GIFT  OF 
Gladys   Isaacson 


i 


HISTORY 

OF  THE 

PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL 


> 


WORKS  BY  PROFESSOR  CORNILL 


THE  PROPHETS  OF  ISRAEL.  Popular  Sketches 
from  Old  Testament  History.  Third  edition. 
Pages,  194.  Cloth,  with  Hebrew  Imprint  in  Gold, 
Gilt  Top,  and  a  handsome  photogravure  frontispiece 
of  Michael  Angelo's  Moses,  $1.00  (55.);  Paper, 
with  half-tone  frontispiece,  25  cents  ( is.  6d. ). 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.  A 
brief  popular  essay  in  Epitomes  of  Three  Sciences. 
Pages,  140.  Cloth,  50  cents  ( 2s.  6d. ).  This  volume 
will  be  sent  to  purchasers  of  the  "  Prophets  "  or 
the  "  History,"  if  ordered  direct  from  the  publish- 
ers, for  30  cents  ( is.  6d. ). 

HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.  From 
the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Destruction  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Romans.  Pages,  301 .  Handsomely  bound  in 
Cloth,  $1.50  (73.  6d.). 


CHICAGO 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

LONDON  AGENTS 
KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUEBNER  &  CO. 


HISTORY 

OF  THB 

PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL 


FROM   THE   EARLIEST  TIMES  TO  THE 

DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM 

BY  THE  ROMANS 


WRITTEN  FOR  LAT  READERS 

BY 

CARL  HEINRICH  CORNILL,  PH.  D.,  S.T.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  iV  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   KONIGSBERG 


TRANSLATED  BY  TV.  H.  CARRUTH,  PROFESSOR  OF  GERMAN 
AN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  KANSAS 


V    »  'c 


FOURTH   EDITION 


CHICAGO 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

LONDON  AGENTS 

KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUEBNER  &  CO. 
1909 


c-7 


COPYRIGHT,  1898 

BY  THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO. 
CHICAGO 


GLADYS    ISAACSON 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE. 

I.  Introductory  Observations.— Land  and  People.— 
Race  Migrations  of  the    Orient  in    Ancient 

Times 1 

II.  Israel  prior  to  the  Origin  of  the  National  King- 
dom       29 

III.  The  National  Kingdom. — Saul  and  David 56 

IV.  Solomon. — The  Division  of  the  Kingdom. — The 

Early  Years  of  the  Divided  Kingdoms 86 

V.  To  the  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Chal- 
deans   115  v, 

VI.  From  the  return  out  of  the  Babylonian  Captivity          jr» 
to  the  Outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  of  the  Mac- 
cabees   145 

VII.  The  Maccabean  Rebellion  to  the  Establishment 
of  the  Hereditary  High  Priesthood  and  Princi- 
pality under  Simon 175 

VIII.  From  Simon  the  Maccabean  to  Herod  the  Great.  207 
IX.  The  House  of  Herod.— Judea  as  a  Roman  Pro- 
vince   238 

X.  The  War  in  Judea  and  the  Destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem.., .  272 


HISTOBY  OP  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISKAEL. 


CHAPTER  I.       °  ,',  ;    ;:'^M 

'          -,»;,•>      O  »    •»    >       '          3    »* 

'  3         >  O    »    >*     O    .,  "  >•     * 

INTRODUCTORY  OBSERVATIONS.  —  LAND  AND  PEOPLE. 

—  RACE   MIGRATIONS   OF   THE   ORIENT 

IN  ANCIENT   TIMES. 


history  of  the  people  of  Israel  is  the  sub-  \ 
ject  to  which  I  desire  to  call  the  reader's/ 
attention.  But  am  I  justified  in  calling  attention 
to  the  subject  at  all  ?  What  do  we  care  for  the 
people  of  Israel  ?  Where  is  there  interest  or  profit 
for  us  in  knowing  what  took  place  in  Palestine 
in  the  long  period  of  time  from  1500  before  Christ 
to  TO  after  ?  Such  questions  and  objections  must 
be  anticipated  by  one  who  undertakes  to  present 
the  history  of  Israel  to  a  general  public  ;  and 
those  who  make  such  objections  probably  regard 
themselves  as  upon  the  very  pinnacle  of  modern 
impartiality  and  freedom  from  bias.  But  this 
boasted  impartiality  is  a  strange  thing  :  it  is  too 
often  only  a  product  of  ignorance,  of  entire  ab- 

sence of  insight  into  the  situation. 

i 


2  HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

A  certain  familiarity  with  the  history  of  Greece 
and  Kome  will  always  be  required  as  a  necessary 
element  of  general  culture.     And  why  ?    Because 
our  whole  civilization  has  its  roots  in  Hellas  and 
Latium.     Our  science  and  our  art  would  simply 
be  incomprehensible  without  Plato  and  Aristotle, 
without   Homer,  Sophocles,  and  Phidias.     It  is 
.•.   truev  the..  Hellenes  themselves  were  heirs  of  the 
•••  prim'iiifB"  civilization  of  the  Orient,  and  their  in- 
::  ^teHectual  achievements  would  have  been  utterly 
*  •'  InlpoSslbfe  *bu't*  for  Egypt,  Babylonia,  India,  and 
Phoenicia.     The  Phoenicians  in  their  colonizing 
and   commercial   activity,  which  embraced  the 
whole  known  world,  brought  to  the  nations  of 
/  Europe  not  only  gold  and  cotton  (the  Greek  word 
/  for  gold  is  Phoenician,  and  our  current  "cotton  " 
is  also  a  Phoenician  word),  but  also  the  intellec- 
tual possessions  of  the  Orient,  and,  most  impor- 
tant of  all,  transmitted  to  the  European  world 
perhaps  the  greatest  and  most  important  inven- 
tion of  the  Orient,  the  alphabet,  which  for  the 
first  time  rendered  possible   genuine  civilization 
and  real  intellectual  life. 

But  the  Hellenes  acquired  this  inheritance  of 
the  ancient  Orient  in  order  to  possess  it ;  from  the 
divinely  endowed  genius  of  their  race  they  gave 
it  a  re-birth  as  something  specifically  new  and 
specifically  Greek.  We,  too,  know  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  ancient  Orient  directly  only  in  the  form 
which  it  received  among  the  Greeks  and  at  their 
hands.  We  must  know  the  history  of  a  race  to 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.  3 

which  we  owe  our  whole  intellectual  life  on  the 
secular  side.  And  inasmuch  as  the  inheritance 
of  the  Greek  mind  has  reached  us  through  the 
Komans,  whose  whole  function  in  the  develop- 
ment of  civilization  consisted  in  transmitting 
Greek  culture  to  the  nations  conquered  by  them, 
we  must  know  the  history  of  this  race  also,  the 
intellectual  connecting  link  between  us  and  Hellas, 
because  only  he  who  knows  this  can  understand 
his  own  people  and  his  own  present. 

Beside  Hellas  and  Borne,  third  in  the  group  of 
races  to  which  the  arbiter  of  history  assigned  an 
exceptional  mission  in  the  world,  stands  Israel. 
True,  Israel  played  no  important  part  in  universal 
history  in  the  accepted  sense  of  the  word,  nor  did 
it  ever  lead  in  the  march  of  civilization.  In  learn-  \ 
ing  and  the  plastic  arts  it  achieved  nothing ;  it  ^ 
produced  no  Plato  or  Aristotle,  no  Phidias  or 
Praxiteles,  no  Homer  or  Sophocles, — but  it  gave 
the  world  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  from  it 
alone  could  be  born  after  the  manner  of  the  flesh, 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Just  as  on  the  secular  side 
our  whole  intellectual  life  is  rooted  in  Hellas  and 
Latium,  so  on  the  religious  side  it  is  rooted  in 
Israel :  Israel  gave  the  world  the  true  God  and 
the  true  religion. 

For  all  times  the  truth  is  established  that  was 
uttered  by  the  founder  of  Christianity  himself  to 
the  woman  of  Samaria  in  the  talk  by  Jacob's 
Well  at  Sychar,  "  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews."  and 
which  his  greatest  apostle  wrote  in  an  epistle  to 


4     HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  Christian  community  of  Eome,  that  Abraham 
is  the  father  of  us  all  in  the  faith.  And  this  ap- 
plies also  to  the  many  millions  of  Mohammedans, 
for  the  prophet  of  Islam  himself  wished  only  to  re- 
store in  its  primitive  purity  "  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham," which  Jews  and  Christians  alike  had,  as 
he  thought,  corrupted  and  disguised  under  all 
sorts  of  strange  additions.  And  can  we  be  indif- 
ferent to  the  history  of  a  race  to  which  we  owe 
our  best  and  noblest  possessions  ?  Can  we  be 
without  interest  in  such  a  race  ? 

But,  you  might  reply,  we  do  know  it,  we  have 
all  learned  it  in  school  under  the  title  of  ' '  Bible 
History."  Very  well  and  good,  and  that  brings 
.me  directly  to  a  point  which  is  in  urgent  need  of 
/  explanation  at  the  very  start.  I  must  simply  beg 
:  you  to  forget  here  all  recollections  of  ( '  Bible 
History."  Not  on  the  ground  that  everything  is 
untrue  that  is  told  in  the  Bible  of  the  history  of 
Israel ;  but  in  the  Biblical  accounts  the  material 
has  all  gone  through  the  medium  of  popular  tradi- 
tion, and  then  again  this  popular  tradition  has 
been  treated  and  presented  by  later  compilers  from 
special  points  of  view.  The  Holy  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  Testament  do  not  claim  to  be  history,  but 
books  of  devotion.  It  is  very  characteristic  that 
the  Jewish  canon  itself  does  not  know  the  designa- 
tion "  historical  books,"  but  includes  the  writings 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  call  the  historical 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  among  the  prophetic, 
with  a  correct  perception  that  we  have  not  in  this 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.     5 

case  historiography  but  prophecy.  That  the  his- 
torian, who  is  concerned  with  these  books  only 
as  historical  materials,  looks  at  them  with  differ- 
ent eyes  from  the  Bible  reader,  who  is  seeking  in 
them  only  edification,  is  a  matter  of  course  and 
cannot  be  otherwise,  and  accordingly  the  historian 
will  often  be  obliged  to  draw  a  different  picture 
of  the  matters  reported  in  them  from  that  made 
for  devotional  purposes  by  the  Biblical  writers 
themselves. 

There  is  one  misfortune  in  the  limitations  of 
this  work  :  I  can  only  portray  and  not  demon- 
strate ;  if  I  were  to  undertake  to  support  my  de- 
lineation by  reference  to  the  sources,  I  should 
need  at  least  sixfold  the  space  at  my  disposal,  and 
I  could  scarcely  hope  to  awaken  interest  for  such 
details  and  investigations,  and  might  not  after 
all  convince  any  one.  I  must  therefore  incur  the 
appearance  of  putting  forth  in  the  following  work 
only  undemonstrated  propositions,  and  of  deviat- 
ing without  evident  reason  from  the  current  views 
derived  from  Bible  history.  But  I  earnestly  beg 
my  reader  to  believe  that  every  deviation  from 
the  traditional  picture  is  based  on  careful  re- 
flection, and  on  reasons  which  my  scientific  con- 
science regards  as  imperative.  And  I  trust  it 
will  be  felt  that  everything  essential  is  left,  even 
if  certain  details  disappear. 

For  I  hold  the  firm  and  well-grounded  convic- 
tion that  the  traditions  of  the  people  of  Israel  it- 
self regarding  its  earliest  history  are  thoroughly 


6  HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

historical  in  all  essential  points,  and  can  sustain 
the  keenest  and  most  searching  criticism.  Poetic 
legends  have,  indeed,  woven  about  those  ancient 
traditions  a  misty  magic  veil  which  charms  the 
eye  and  captivates  the  heart,  and  in  which  lies 
the  spell  that  those  traditions  cast  over  every  un- 
biased mind.  Not  with  rude  Vandal  hand  should 
we  tear  away  this  veil,  but  with  loving  care  re- 
solve it  into  its  single  threads  and  remove  it  with 
considerate  hand,  so  that  the  original  image  may 
stand  forth  in  its  unadorned  simplicity  and  naked 
chastity,  and  then  we  shall  see  that  it  is  really  a 
noble  human  figure,  and  not  a  mere  creature  of 
the  imagination,  that  was  concealed  beneath  the 
protecting  cover  of  this  veil.  For  science  there  is 
/  no  veiled  image  of  Sais,  and  the  road  to  scien- 
tific truth  does  not  go  through  guilt,  not  even 
where  scientific  truth  in  sacred  things  is  con- 
cerned. 

If  the  question  is  raised  :  what  sources  are  at 
our  command  for  the  investigation  of  the  scien- 
tific truth  in  connection  with  the  history  of  Israel, 
we  have  first  to  confirm  a  fact  which  for  the  his- 
torian, indeed,  is  extremely  grievous  and  dis- 
couraging, but  all  the  more  valuable  and  signifi- 
cant for  the  student  of  race-psychology.  Israel 
is  the  poorest  in  history  and  monuments  of  all 
the  races  that  we  know.  I  will  not  refer  to  the 
Egyptians  and  Mesopotamians,  who  covered  every 
spot  of  free  space  with  inscriptions  and  pictorial 
representations  which  recall  to  us  vividly  to-day 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.  / 

a  life  that  was  lived  five  thousand  years  ago. 
Even  among  the  nearest  relatives  and  neighbors 
of  the  Israelites  the  conditions  are  entirely  differ- 
ent. The  thousands  and  thousands  of  inscrip- 
tions which  the  Phoenicians  set  up  wherever  they 
went  are  a  familiar  fact ;  from  the  next  kins- 
men of  the  Israelites,  the  Moabites,  we  have  at 
least  the  triumphal  column  of  their  king  Mesha, 
and  from  the  nature  of  this  monument  we  may 
conclude  that  it  was  not  the  only  one.  Even  the 
wandering  Bedouins  of  the  Arabian  and  Syrian 
deserts  transmitted  their  memory  to  future  gen- 
erations by  numerous  inscriptions.  From  Israel 
we  have  nothing  of  the  sort,  no  monument,  no 
inscription,  no  tomb.  It  might  be  thought  that 
this  was  to  be  explained  from  outward  circum- 
stances. Since  the  second  millennium  before 
Christ,  Palestine  has  been  the  battle-field  of  the 
Orient,  and  all  that  has  visited  this  land  would 
make  the  destruction  of  its  ancient  monuments 
quite  comprehensible.  But  not  even  the  earth 
has  brought  anything  of  the  sort  to  light,  despite 
most  careful  and  painstaking  search  ;  and  in  view 
of  all  that  has  actually  been  preserved  from  an- 
cient times,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  some- 
where at  least  a  letter  or  a  written  fragment 
would  appear.  One  sole  exception  but  confirms 
the  rule.  In  the  year  1880,  the  first  and  thus  far 
the  last  ancient  Hebrew  inscription  was  found, — 
but  where  ?  In  the  tunnel  of  the  conduit  of  the 
Siloam  canal,  where  a  human  eye  could  see  it 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

only  by  accident,  as  indeed  it  was  discovered  by 
pure  chance  on  the  occasion  of  the  cleaning  of  the 
canal. 

No,  the  reason  lies  deeper,  and  we  shall  scarcely 
find  anything  of  importance,  even  if  the  search  is 
continued.  This  is  shown  by  the  very  character 
of  the  literature  of  Israel  that  has  been  preserved. 
The  composer  of  the  Book  of  Kings  had  before 
him  the  official  annals  of  the  ancient  kings  of 
Israel  and  Judah,  or  at  least  extracts  from  them. 
This  work,  which  if  preserved  would  be  for  us  a 
historical  source  of  incomparable  value,  and  which 
we  would  gladly  make  great  sacrifices  to  regain, 
was  allowed  to  perish ;  it  has  vanished  and  left 
no  trace,  because  it  was  not  appreciated.  And 
yet  this  work  contained  everything  in  the  whole 
matter  that  would  interest  us  as  historians. 

We  meet  an  entirely  analogous  case  in  the  his- 
tory of  David.  David  was  the  greatest  king  and 
warrior  that  Israel  ever  had,  and  we  are  more 
exactly  informed  about  the  time  of  his  life  and 
reign  than  about  any  other  period  of  ancient 
Israelitish  history  ;  but  these  very  detailed  reports 
speak  so  incidentally  and  superficially  of  David's 
wars  and  victories  that  it  is  'quite  impossible  for 
us  to  obtain  a  picture  of  his  warlike  achievements 
that  shall  be  clear  in  all  respects.  What  inter- 
ested Israel  in  this  its  greatest  hero,  and  endeared 
him  to  it,  was  not  the  warrior  and  the  victor,  but 
the  man  and  the  king.  It  seems  as  though  ancient 
Israel  had  no  eye  for  those  things,  as  though  it 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.     9 

felt  itself  clearly  enough  that  its  function  in  his- 
tory and  its  mission  to  mankind  were  not  of  this 
world  and  did  not  consist  in  earthly  achieve- 
ments. This  undeniable  fact  has  always  been  to 
me  the  strongest  proof  of  a  really  transcendent 
spiritual  endowment  of  Israel. 

Accordingly,  we  have  no  monuments  of  any  sort 
at  hand  for  the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel,  but 
our  only  sources  are  the  written  traditions  of  this 
absolutely  unhistorical  people  itself,  which  are 
and  profess  to  be  not  histories  but  books  of  devo- 
tion, and  after  these  the  direct  and  indirect  reports 
of  alien  nations — in  fact  a  scanty  and  unreliable 
body  of  material  in  dealing  with  which  the  great- 
est caution  and  self-control  are  urgently  de- 
manded. To  present  what  can  be  learned  from 
these  unpromising  materials  is  the  object  of  these  1 
pages. 

And  first  we  must  endeavor  to  get  a  tolerably 
clear  idea  of  the  scene  of  our  history.  It  will  ap- 
pear that  as  the  people  that  lived  there  in  his- 
torical times  was  unique  in  its  kind,  so  is  also  the 
land,  the  features  of  which  could  not  but  exercise 
a  great  influence  upon  the  nature  and  character 
of  its  inhabitants. 

The  land  in  which  the  chief  part  of  the  history 
of  Israel  was  played,  and  which  this  people  re- 
garded as  its  own,  is  called  by  us  with  a  Grseco- 
Koman  designation,  Palestine,  that  is,  the  Land 
of  the  Philistines.  The  Greeks  entered  the  country 
by  way  of  the  coast,  and  gave  to  it  the  name  of 


IO    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  tribe  that  dwelt  there,  a  phenomenon  that  we 
shall  observe  frequently.  The  inhabitants  them- 
selves called  it  Kenaan.  As  this  name  means 
etymologically  "  lowland,"  it  must  originally  have 
been  applied  only  to  the  Philisto-Phoenician  coast 
strip.  The  land  occupied  by  the  Israelites,  on  the 
contrary,  is  altogether  mountainous  and  has  a 
considerable  lowland  only  in  the  plain  of  Jezreel. 
This  fact  is  in  accord  with  the  report  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians that  they  descended  from  a  tribal  pro- 
genitor, Chna,  in  which  name  we  recognize  imme- 
diately the  stem  of  Kenaan.  In  Israelitish  times, 
however,  only  the  portion  of  the  land  situated 
west  of  the  Jordan  is  known  as  Kenaan  ;  the  land 
east  of  the  Jordan  has  the  separate  name,  Gilead. 

What  we  now  call  Palestine,  the  land  on  both 
sides  of  the  Jordan,  is  a  comparatively  small  bit 
of  earth,  only  about  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
square  miles  in  extent ;  that  is,  a  little  more  than 
the  area  of  Massachusetts,  or  of  Wales  and  Here- 
fordshire. 

Hydrographically,  the  land  is  very  scantily  en- 
dowed. Of  rivers  it  has  the  Jordan  alone,  with 
its  tributaries,  the  most  important  of  which,  how- 
ever, are  all  on  the  east  side :  the  Yarmuk,  the 
Jabbok,  and  the  Arnon,  which  latter  empties  not 
into  the  Jordan  proper,  but  into  the  Dead  Sea. 
The  land  west  of  the  Jordan  can  boast  really  of 
no  rivers  save  the  Kishon  in  the  plain  of  Jezreel ; 
but  in  the  hottest  part  of  the  season  this  is  a 
slight  rivulet  and  begins  to  be  a  considerable  river 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    II 

only  a  few  miles  above  its  entrance  into  the  Med- 
iterranean Sea  at  Haifa. 

The  fertility  of  Palestine  is  dependent  exclu- 
sively on  the  rain  which  falls  in  winter,  and  on 
the  dew  of  summer,  wherefore  it  is  more  clearly 
and  more  perceptibly  than  in  other  lands  a  bless- 
ing from  above,  a  gift  of  heaven,  so  that  the  eye 
of  man  was  here  directed  upward,  toward  heaven, 
by  nature  herself.  The  Jordan,  the  sole  river  of 
Palestine,  called  to-day  "  esch  Scheriat  elkebire," 
the  Great  River,  has  not  its  like  on  earth ;  in- 
stead of  uniting  the  adjacent  lands  and  shores, 
like  other  rivers,  the  Jordan  separates  them  as  an 
almost  impassable  barrier,  since  its  extraordinary 
fall  and  its  winding  and  twisting  course  make 
navigation  on  it  impossible.  Of  moderately  con- 
venient and  always  available  fords  it  has  only 
three  between  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret  and  the 
Dead  Sea.  Thus  it  comes  about  that  we  are 
obliged  to  consider  the  land  east  of  the  Jordan 
and  that  west  of  the  Jordan  as  two  really 
distinct  lands  without  connection  with  each 
other. 

The  Jordan  plain,  called  to-day  "el  Ghor,"  is 
almost  entirely  uninhabitable,  in  summer  on  ac- 
count of  the  tropical  heat,  in  winter  on  account 
of  the  floods  ;  it  was  and  is  still  a  notorious  resort 
and  hiding-place  for  all  possible  beasts.  The 
southern  part  of  the  country,  too,  the  region 
about  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  so-called  mountains 
or  wilderness  of  Judah,  is  sparsely  populated  and 


12          HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

capable  of  sustaining  only  a  scant  population.  In 
ancient  times,  as  well,  it  must  have  been  much  as 
it  is  to-day,  since  natural  conditions  have  not 
changed.  The  country  east  of  the  Jordan  is  but 
a  narrow  strip  of  tillable  land  wedged  in  between 
the  valley  of  the  Jordan  and  the  vast  Syro-Ara- 
bian  desert.  Only  in  its  middle  and  northern  por- 
tions is  the  land  really  fertile  and  adequate  for  a 
considerable  population,  and  this  especially  on  the 
slope  toward  the  Mediterranean  coast,  the  low- 
lands of  Sharon  and  Sephela,  which  Israel  never 
succeeded  in  occupying. 

But  upon  this  narrow  and  limited  soil,  our  as- 
tonished eyes  meet  an  infinite  variety  and  diver- 
sity of  details.  Palestine  deserves  the  name  of 
'the  land  of  contrasts  ;  here  is  found  gathered  to- 
/gether  everything  between  a  sub- tropical  climate 
*  and  the  region  of  eternal  snow.  The  mighty 
mountain  peak  of  Hermon,  which  forms  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  the  country,  is  covered  with  per- 
petual snow  and  rises  to  an  altitude  of  over  nine 
thousand  feet,  some  three  thousand  feet  more 
than  Mount  Washington,  or  more  than  twice  the 
height  of  Ben  Nevis.  There  we  have  Alpine  land- 
scape and  Alpine  flora.  The  mountain  region  of 
Galilee,  the  most  healthy  portion  of  Palestine,  has 
the  most  moderate  climate  ;  the  southern  portions, 
especially  the  plain  of  Jezreel  and  the  seacoast, 
have  a  warm  climate  ;  and  in  the  valley  of  the 
Jordan  and  about  the  Dead  Sea  it  is  actually  sub- 
tropical. In  Ghor  a  temperature  of  109  F.  has 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    13 

been  observed  in  the  shade  in  the  month  of  May, 
and  along  the  Dead  Sea,  even  after  sunset,  when 
in  other  southern  lands  a  sudden  coolness  usually 
sets  in,  the  thermometer  has  recorded  95  F. 

And  accordingly  the  vegetation  here  is  sub- 
tropical :  the  balsam  used  to  thrive  here  and  the 
palm  still  does,  wherefore  Jericho  was  formerly 
called  the  City  of  Palms.  On  account  of  these 
great  climatic  extremes,  the  flora  of  Palestine  in 
general  is  exceedingly  rich  ;  some  two  thousand 
species  of  flowers  have  been  noted.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  how  this  natural  wealth  of  the  land 
about  him  must  arouse  and  inspire  the  mind  and 
soul  of  man. 

But  as  a  whole,  also,  Palestine  is  a  land  of  con- 
trasts, and  this  in  a  manner  that  must  be  regarded 
as  providential.  In  the  first  place,  the  land  is 
almost  entirely  shut  off  from  the  world  outside. 
On  the  east  and  south  it  is  bordered  by  the  desert, 
like  a  perfect  insulating  medium  ;  and  on  the  west 
by  the  surging  Mediterranean,  offering  no  good 
harbor  on  the  whole  coast  of  Palestine  (to  this 
day  a  calamity  for  travelers  to  the  Holy  Land), 
besides  being  almost  unnavigable  by  the  ships  of 
the  ancients  because  of  the  strong  blasts  of  the 
trade- winds.  Only  on  the  north  is  the  land  ac- 
cessible, though  one  cannot  say  open,  for  here  the 
two  great  parallel  Alpine  chains  of  Lebanon  and 
Anti-Libanus  reach  across  like  a  natural  bar. 
This  same  reserve  which  the  land  shows  outwardly, 
is  manifest  within  as  well.  Almost  everywhere 


< 


14    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

are  mountains  with  deep,  abrupt  gorges,  which 
constitute  a  great  obstacle  to  intercourse,  and 
make  travel  extremely  wearisome  and  slow. 

This  is  providential :  for  this  isolation  guaran- 
teed to  the  inhabitants  the  undisturbed  develop- 
ment of  their  individuality;  they  were  exempt 
from  the  influences  of  the  great  leveler,  com- 
merce. 

Mountaineers  are  everywhere  men  of  strongly 
developed  individuality.  But  there  is  another 
side  to  the  matter.  It  is  true  that  the  genuine 
mountaineer  is  vigorous  and  upright,  but  he  is 
also  clumsy  and  stubborn,  revolving  complacently 
about  his  own  axis  and  distrustful  and  inhospi- 
table toward  all  influences  from  without.  From 
this  danger  Israel  was  preserved.  For  while  the 
land  is  insulated,  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  bridge 
and  a  highway  of  world-commerce  without  a  par- 
allel. All  the  ancient  highways  of  commerce 
went  through  Palestine.  For  instance,  that  prim- 
itive one  from  the  Nile  to  the  Euphrates,  which 
runs  through  Palestine  in  its  entire  length,  and 
after  crossing  the  Jordan  touches  first  at  Da- 
mascus ;  and  likewise  the  no  less  important  one 
from  Tyre  to  the  Arabian  Gulf,  which  brought 
to  the  Phoenicians  the  products  of  Arabia,  East 
Africa,  Persia,  and  India.  And  so,  if  I  may  ven- 
ture to  use  the  figure,  Israel  was  constantly 
fanned  and  refreshed  by  the  wings  of  world -wide 
commerce,  and  thus  kept  from  growing  hard  and 
sour,  while  its  individuality  ran  no  risk  of  being 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.  1 5 

dissolved  in  a  characterless,  nebulous  cosmopoli- 
tanism. 

And  in  still  another  way  this  providential  ten- 
dency to  extremes  is  seen.  The  land  was  favored 
in  many  ways,  but  on  the  other  hand  it  was  full 
of  pests.  In  early  times  wild  beasts,  such  as  the 
lion  and  the  bear,  the  wolf  and  the  panther,  the 
jackal  and  the  hyena,  must  have  lived  there  in 
great  numbers  ;  and  even  to  this  day,  serpents  are 
a  great  pest,  Palestine  having  more  than  twenty 
species,  among  them  five  very  dangerous  and  poi- 
sonous ones. 

Furthermore,  the  land  is  fertile :  grain  of  all 
varieties,  grapes,  figs,  olives,  and  pomegranates 
thrive  abundantly,  but  not  without  labor  and 
care.  Of  Palestine  especially  the  old  Bible  sen-  i 
tence  is  true  :  "In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  f 
thou  eat  bread."  These  contrasts  also  are  very 
important.  There  was  no  chance  for  the  relax- 
ing and  enervating  effect  that  comes  when  man 
receives  from  nature  without  exertion  all  that  he 
needs  ;  he  was  spurred  and  forced  to  the  full  ex- 
ertion of  his  powers.  But  this  application  was 
not  discouraged  by  the  prospective  fruitlessness 
of  his  exertions,  a  condition  which  makes  man  as 
stupid  and  indifferent  as  when  everything  falls 
into  his  lap  of  itself  ;  but  prosperity  was  the  re- 
ward of  toil.  He  knew  that  it  paid  to  exert  his 
powers.  A  land,  therefore,  which  seemed  as  if 
made  to  produce  a  physically  and  mentally  sound 
race,  that  brought  thither  the  capacity  to  fulfil 


l6    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  mission  assigned  it  by  God.  The  Roman  his- 
torian, Tacitus,  also,  in  his  notoriously  unjust  de- 
scription of  the  Jewish  people,  dwells  especially  on 
the  exceptional  health,  strength,  and  endurance 
of  this  race.  And  accordingly  the  Israelite  has 
always  clung  to  his  country  with  sincere  gratitude 
and  loving  loyalty  ;  it  was  to  him  the  paragon  of 
countries,  and  he  recognized  the  gracious  dispensa- 
tiyn  of  his  God  especially  in  the  fact  that  this 
precious  land  had  been  assigned  and  promised  to 
him  without  any  merit  and  desert  of  his  own. 

The  limitations  of  our  subject  are  self-evident. 
Properly  speaking,  there  is  no  history  of  the 
people  of  Israel  until  the  exodus  from  Egypt ;  not 
until  this  event  did  Israel  become  a  people,  only 
then  does  its  history  begin.  It  ends  with  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans.  Since 
that  time  there  have  been  plenty  of  Jews  ;  but 
there  has  been  no  Jewish  nation  since  the  year  TO 
after  Christ.  To  be  exact,  therefore,  we  should 
have  to  begin  with  the  exodus  from  Egypt.  But, 
as  is  well  known,  the  recollections  of  the  Israel- 
itish  people  reach  much  further  back,  and  we 
must  extend  our  examination  into  their  history 
as  far  back  as  we  can  possibly  go.  This  will  con- 
stitute the  primitive  or  archaic  history.  A  sub- 
ject of  vast  importance  !  For,  as  with  the  in- 
dividual the  child  is  father  of  the  man,  so  in  the 
life  of  a  nation  the  primeval  history  has  a  deci- 
sive influence  on  the  whole  following  develop- 
ment. But  at  this  point  we  must  get  a  clear  idea 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    I/ 

of  the  character  of  those  earliest  recollections  of 
the  people  of  Israel. 

We  find  no  history  or  historical  literature  in 
Israel  until  the  period  of  the  kings.  Of  literary 
monuments  reaching  further  back  than  this  we 
have  some  songs  and  fragments  of  poetry,  most 
notably  the  splendid  Song  of  Deborah.  But  until 
the  beginning  of  the  monarchy,  all  the  historical 
recollections  of  Israel  were  handed  down  by  word 
of  mouth  alone.  Now,  there  are  centuries  between 
the  oldest  authentic  reports  and  the  things  re- 
ported ;  therefore,  the  criticism  of  the  sources  is 
especially  needed  here,  and  at  the  same  time  es- 
pecially difficult.  We  must  regard  this  whole 
body  of  oldest  traditions  as  popular  legends. 
Popular  legend  does  not  invent  its  subjects,  it  \ 
makes  nothing  out  of  nothing  ;  but  it  handles  its  f 
subjects  very  freely  and  treats  them  with  all  the 
sovereign  authority  of  a  divinely  inspired  poet,  to 
whom  the  subject  is  only  the  raw  material  which 
he  endows  with  soul,  form,  content,  and  life. 
Accordingly  we  must  endeavor  everywhere  to  get 
at  the  historical  germ,  the  substratum  of  reality 
in  these  legends  ;  it  is  this  that  is  historically 
valuable,  and  may  be  regarded  as  an  authentic 
source. 

To  penetrate  into  times  that  antedate  history, 
we  have  a  still  more  reliable  guide  :  this  is  lan- 
guage and  philology.  Let  us  try  to  make  Israel's 
language  speak,  and  put  it  on  the  stand  as  a  wit- 
ness regarding  the  earliest  fortunes  of  the  people. 


18    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

Israel  itself  calls  the  language  which  we  know  as 
Hebrew  "  the  language  of  Canaan  "  ;  there  is  no 
recollection  that  the  Israelites  themselves  or  their 
fathers  ever  spoke  any  other.  Now  this  designa- 
tion, "the  language  of  Canaan,"  is  true  in  a 
literal  sense :  it  can  be  proven  on  philological 
grounds  that  this  language  can  have  developed  in 
no  other  country  than  Canaan. 

The  Hebrew  language  calls  the  west  jam, 
' '  ocean  "  or ' '  seacoast " ;  in  fact,  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  constitutes  the  west  boundary,  and  Canaan 
is  the  only  race  speaking  a  Semitic  tongue  which 
has  directly  and  solely  the  sea  on  the  west.  The 
south  is  in  Hebrew,  negeb,  literally  "  the  dry- 
land," "  the  drought-land  ";  negeb  is  the  proper 
name  of  the  desert  into  which  the  mountains  of 
^Judah  abruptly  descend  to  the  south,  which  is 
called  in  the  oldest  Egyptian  records  pa-nagbu 
(the  very  same  word,  with  the  Egyptian  article 
prefixed).  Here  again,  this  peculiar  etymology 
could  have  grown  up  in  no  other  Semitic-speak- 
ing land  save  Canaan.  And  the  creators  of  the 
Hebrew  language  were  already  tillers  of  the  soil, 
and  no  longer  nomads.  While  the  Arab,  a 
thorough  nomad,  uses  for  all  figurative  applica- 
tions of  " dwelling"  the  word  ahl,  "tent"  (call- 
ing, for  instance,  a  man's  family  his  tent),  the 
Hebrew  uses  regularly  the  word  bajith,  "house  "  ; 
only  to  a  people  that  had  long  ceased  to  be  nomadic 
could  it  occur  to  say  schdar,  "gate,"  for  "city" 
or  "dwelling."  Most  decisive,  perhaps,  is  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.       19 

word  lechem,  which  appears  as  second  element  in 
the  name  Bethlehem.  This  word  means  in  He- 
brew "  bread,"  while  in  Arabic  the  corresponding 
form  of  the  same  stem,  lachm,  means  "meat." 
How  is  this  to  be  explained?  Originally,  of 
course,  the  word  has  neither  of  these  meanings, 
but  only  the  general  sense  of  "nourishment," 
"food."  To  the  nomad,  meat  is  the  absolute 
equivalent  of  food  ;  if  the  Hebrew  language  un- 
derstands by  it  "bread,"  then  those  who  formed 
this  language  as  a  vehicle  for  their  thoughts  and 
ideas  must  of  necessity  have  been  tillers  of  the  soil. 
On  these  grounds,  then,  we  should  conclude 
that  the  people  of  Israel  had  always  dwelt  in 
Canaan  and  that  they  had  always  been  agricul- 
tural people.  But  against  both  assumptions  He-  \ 
brew  tradition  raises  loud  and  vigorous  protest.  Pv 
No  element  of  this  tradition  is  more  permanent 
than  that  the  ancestors  of  the  people  were  not  born 
in  the  land  of  Canaan,  but  immigrated  thither, 
and  that  they  were  nomads,  wandering  shepherds, 
who  adopted  agriculture  and  settled  abodes  only 
in  historical  times  and  in  this  very  land  of  Ca- 
naan. These  two  points  cannot  be  invention,  for 
the  first  is  very  inconvenient  for  Hebrew  tradi- 
tion, which  is  thus  compelled  to  make  extraor- 
dinary efforts  to  prove  or  at  least  to  found  its 
claim  to  the  possession  of  Canaan.  Therefore, 
unless  it  had  had  a  very  distinct  recollection  of 
this  fact,  it  would  never  in  the  world  have  in- 
vented it.  Moreover,  traditions  have  preserved  a 


20          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

recollection  of  the  original  home  ;  with  one  accord 
they  report  that  the  patriarchs  were  Aramaeans, 
and  came  to  Canaan  as  emigrant  Aramaeans.  In 
historical  times  Aram  was  the  hereditary  enemy 
of  Israel,  which  waged  a  life-and-death  struggle 
against  its  assaults.  Here,  too,  it  is  a  psycho- 
logical impossibility  that  this  Aramaean  origin 
should  he  an  invention  of  legend,  particularly 
when  we  consider  that  the  Aramaeans  speak  a 
language  wholly  different  from  the  Hebrew.  The 
Germans  might  as  easily  get  the  idea  that  they 
were  descended  from  the  French,  or  vice  versa. 

For  ancient  Israel,  Aram  is  a  term  of  wide 
extent ;  but  recollection  located  the  primitive 
home  more  definitely,  though  not  always  in  pre- 
>  cisely  the  same  place.  A  tradition,  in  other  re- 
\  spects  very  good  and  bearing  the  marks  of  anti- 
quity, makes  "Laban  the  Aramaean,  "the  father- 
in-law  of  Jacob,  dwell  not  far  from  Damascus, 
which  the  Israelites  regarded  as  a  part  of  Aram. 
Another  and  indeed  older  tradition  finds  the 
initial  point  of  the  migration  of  the  patriarchs  to 
Canaan  in  Haran,  a  place  in  northwestern  Meso- 
potamia, well  known  under  the  Graeco-Roman 
form  of  the  name  as  Carrhae,  and  tells  also  of  a 
connection  with  the  ancient  marvelous  city  of  Ur 
in  the  extreme  southeast  of  Babylonia,  the  modern 
Mukajjar  (Mugheir),  whose  ruins  inform  us  of  a 
primitive  civilization  in  that  region,  which  we 
can  trace  back  into  the  third  millennium  before 
Christ,  and  which  is  surely  much  older  than  that. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    21 

How  should  Israelitish  tradition  have  happened 
upon  these  names  and  localities,  which  it  is  not 
prohable  that  any  Israelite  ever  set  eyes  on  in  his- 
torical times  ? 

These  are  no  airy  creations  of  the  imagination, 
but  even  the  keenest  criticism  must  recognize 
here  a  foundation  of  reliable  tradition.  All  ac- 
counts agree  that  the  ancestors  of  the  people  of 
Israel  were  conducted  from  Haran  to  Canaan  by 
Abraham.  The  recollection  of  an  occurrence  of 
such  importance  could  not  fail  to  be  preserved, 
and  even  the  name  of  the  person  who  was  the 
motive  power  and  manager  of  the  whole  could  not 
be  lost  to  posterity.  I  consider  Abraham  a  his- 
torical personage  in  just  as  strict  a  sense  as 
Opheltas  and  Peripoltas  who,  according  to  th 
tradition  of  the  Boeotians,  led  this  people  f 
Arne  in  the  valley  of  the  Peneus  in  Thessaly  to 
ChaBronea  in  the  land  afterwards  occupied  by 
them.  Such  particulars  and  such  names  are  not 
invented  by  tradition  out  of  nothing.  Let  us  see 
whether  it  is  possible  to  fit  these  facts  into  the 
course  of  the  history  of  the  Orient  as  known  to 
us  from  other  sources. 

In  Mesopotamia,  where  the  oldest  tradition 
places  the  primitive  home  of  Israel,  our  historical 
knowledge  reaches  back  almost  to  the  year  4000  be- 
fore Christ.  According  to  the  reports  of  the  Baby- 
lonians themselves,  the  two  earliest  kings  of 
whom  they  have  any  recollection,  Sargon  of 
Agade  and  his  son  Naram-Sin,  ruled  about  the 


22    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

year  3800  before  Christ ;  of  Sargon  it  is  already 
reported  that  he  made  expeditions  as  far  as  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  These  two  rulers  are  abso- 
lutely historical  personages,  since  we  possess  to- 
day authentic  monuments  of  them  with  full  iden- 
tification of  their  names. 

And  even  then  the  land  had  already  a  long  and 
eventful  history  behind  it.  Sargon  of  Agade 
already  bears  a  genuinely  Semitic  name.  But 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  primitive  Baby- 
lonian civilization,  which  has  given  even  to  the 
present  day  the  names  of  the  seven  planets,  and 
of  the  corresponding  days  of  the  week,  the  divis- 
ion of  the  circle  into  360  degrees,  the  division  of 
the  year  into  12  months,  the  week  into  7  days,  the 
day  into  24  hours,  and  the  hour  into  60  minutes, 
{s  older  than  the  year  4000  B.  C.  and  derived  from 
a  non-Semitic  people.  This  people  called  them- 
selves Sumerians,  and  by  their  language  belonged 
to  the  Finnish-Turkish-Tartar  race,  the  so-called 
Turanians. 

This  highly  civilized  but  unwarlike  people  was 
overwhelmed  by  a  great  Semitic  migration,  and 
with  the  Semitizing  of  the  Sumerians  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  history  of  Mesopotamia  begins.  We 
can  follow  this  process  step  by  step.  The  more 
energetic  and  powerful  Semitic  race  succeeded  in 
the  course  of  centuries  in  completely  absorbing 
the  Sumerians,  and  adopted,  without  adding  any- 
thing of  their  own,  their  primitive  civilization, 
especially  the  cuneiform  writing  invented  by  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    23 

Sumerians  and  long  in  use  among  them.  They 
organized  city  principalities  and  district  kingdoms 
whose  rulers  we  can  name  and  identify  in  great 
numbers  from  their  own  inscriptions  and  the  ac- 
counts of  the  Babylonians.  Especially  interesting 
for  us  among  these  is  Gudea  of  Sirgurla,  about  2800 
B.  C.,  from  whom  we  have  a  considerable  number 
of  sculptures  and  inscriptions.  These  sculptures 
show  already  a  high  degree  of  skill ;  in  the  in- 
scriptions he  mentions  expressly  cedars  from  the 
Amanus  mountains  and  from  Lebanon,  so  that 
the  connection  with  the  Mediterranean  was  still 
maintained.  Furthermore,  it  is  as  good  as  cer- 
tain that  there  existed  already  a  lively  and  unin- 
terrupted intercourse  with  Egypt ;  in  these  very 
sculptures  of  Gudea,  Egyptian  influences  are  sai 
to  be  manifest.  We  must  assume  about  the  y 
3000  B.  C.,  a  high  degree  of  civilization  and  sonW 
international  commerce  in  southwestern  Asia. 
We  see,  therefore,  at  the  beginning  how  the 
course  which  Israelitish  tradition  assigns  to  the 
patriarchs  had  been  traveled  for  a  thousand  years 
or  more. 

About  the  year  2300  B.  C.,  these  Mesopotamian 
Semites  are  assailed  by  a  new  enemy  who  seems 
about  to  deal  out  to  them  the  same  fate  which  they 
had  before  dealt  to  the  Sumerians.  The  Elam- 
ites,  the  non-Semitic  inhabitants  of  the  moun- 
tain region  east  of  the  lower  course  of  the  Tigris, 
invade  Babylonia  and  conquer  the  land.  Their 
king,  Kudur-Mabuk,  must  have  ruled  over  a 


24    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

mighty  realm  reaching  even  to  the  Mediterranean, 
and  of  this  Elamite  kingdom  we  have  left  a  trace 
in  the  king  Chedorlaomer  of  Elam,  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  account  in  Genesis,  chapter  14,  ruled 
over  Palestine  and  waged  wars  there.  But  their 
dominion  was  to  be  of  short  duration.  About 
2250  B.  C.,  the  great  city-king,  Hammurabi  of 
Babel,  led  a  victorious  attack  of  the  Semites 
against  the  Elamites,  destroyed  their  power  and 
became  the  founder  of  a  greater  Babylonian  em- 
pire, combining  under  his  scepter  all  that  was 
later  known  as  Babylon. 

This  greater  Babylonian  Empire  founded  by 
Hammurabi  seems  to  have  continued  over  five 
hundred  years  peaceful  and  unassailed.  In  the 
eighteenth  century  before  Christ,  it  is  true,  the  As- 
\syrian  power  began  to  develop  to  the  north  of  it, 
but  for  some  time  this  did  not  threaten  Baby- 
lonia. It  was  a  more  serious  matter  when  in 
1550  B.  C.  a  new  conquest  came  upon  the  country. 
The  Cossseans,  or  Kassites,  a  mountain  people  re- 
lated to  the  Elamites  and  dwelling  northeast  of 
Mesopotamia,  invaded  the  country  under  the  lead 
of  their  king,  Agu-kak-rimi,  whose  very  name 
shows  that  he  was  no  Semite.  They  succeeded  in 
completely  subduing  the  north  part  of  it  and  in 
establishing  a  Cossseic  dynasty  which  ruled  for 
several  hundred  years,  the  members  of  which 
called  themselves,  after  the  name  of  Middle  and 
North  Babylonia,  "  Kings  of  Kar-Duniash. "  The 
Semitic  part  of  the  people  and  their  rulers  were 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    2$ 

forced  southward,  where  they  continued  to  live 
an  inactive  life,  and  suffered  severely  from  the 
attacks  of  the  Bedouins  of  the  Arabian  Desert. 

By  this  time  another  enemy  had  appeared  on 
the  scene.  About  the  year  2000  B.  C.,  Egypt  had 
been  invaded  by  foreign  conquerors — Hyksos,  the 
Egyptian  historian  Manetho  calls  them — who 
settled  permanently  in  Lower  Egypt,  which  they 
subdued  to  their  sway.  The  origin  of  these  Hyk- 
sos is  disputed ;  according  to  the  report  of  the 
Egyptians  themselves,  we  can  see  in  them  only 
hordes  of  Asiatic  Bedouins,  who,  however,  soon 
became  acclimated  and  adopted  Egyptian  civili- 
zation to  a  certain  degree.  After  the  reign  of  the 
Hyksos  had  lasted  a  considerable  time,  Pharaoh 
Ahmes,  the  vigorous  founder  of  the  Eighteenth  i 
Dynasty,  succeeded  in  breaking  their  power  and  w 
taking  from  them  their  last  support  in  Egypt,  the 
border  fortress  of  Abaris. 

The  Hyksos  went  back  to  Asia,  but  the  Egyp- 
tians followed  their  track,  and  now  themselves  ad- 
vanced into  Asia  as  conquerors.  Thotmes  II.,  the 
great-grandson  of  Ahmes,  overran  all  southwest 
Asia,  even  to  the  further  side  of  the  Euphrates, 
which  he  descended  with  his  army  in  ships,  and 
hunted  lions  and  the  still  numerous  elephants  in 
Mesopotamia.  Even  the  king  of  the  rising  As- 
syrian Empire  sought  the  favor  of  the  powerful 
Egyptian  and  several  times  sent  him  valuable 
presents.  Even  though  this  Egyptian  rule  was 
only  nominal  in  the  lands  along  the  Euphrates,  it 


26    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

established  itself  firmly  in  Palestine  and  on  the 
Mediterranean  coast.  At  this  period  Palestine 
was  a  regular  Egyptian  province,  ruled  by  sub- 
ject kings  and  Egyptian  governors.  And  so  the 
Cossa3ic  kings  of  Kar-Duniash  sought  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Egyptian  Pharaohs,  and  maintained 
with  them  the  relations  of  friend  and  neighbor. 

Here  again  I  must  mention  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  valuable  discoveries  given  to  the 
world  in  recent  years.  The  last  Pharaoh  of  the 
powerful  and  mighty  Eighteenth  Dynasty  was 
King  Amenhotep  IV.,  the  so-called  Heretic  King. 
This  remarkable  man  wished  to  reform  the  Egyp- 
tian religion  and  put  in  place  of  the  old  and  con- 
fused polytheism  a  solar  monotheism  in  which  the 
/  sun  was  to  be  worshiped  as  the  sole  god,  under 
*€  the  name  of  A  ten.  The  king  especially  disap- 
x  proved  of  the  ancient  imperial  god,  Amon,  whose 
name  he  ordered  erased  everywhere,  and  changed 
his  own  name  from  Amenhotep  to  Chu-en-aten, 
"  Glory  of  the  Sun."  And  so  too,  the  old  metrop- 
olis of  Thebes,  the  very  city  of  Amon,  had  be- 
come distasteful  to  him,  and  he  moved  his  capi- 
tal to  Middle  Egypt  to  the  modern  Tell-el- Amarna. 
It  is  no  wonder  that  the  reformation  was  a  fail- 
ure, and  that  the  king,  who  was  besides  so  un- 
fortunate as  to  leave  no  son  but  only  daughters, 
died  amidst  the  curses  of  his  subjects,  and  pur- 
sued by  the  fanatical  hatred  of  later  generations. 
Hence  the  place  where  he  had  dwelt  was  regarded 
as  plague-ridden  and  haunted  by  evil  demons. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    2/ 

And  as  a  result  of  this  belief  it  happened  that 
the  complete  royal  archives,  his  own  and  his 
father's  diplomatic  correspondence,  were  pre- 
served at  Tell-el-Amarna  ;  they  were  found  in 
the  fall  of  188T.  This  highly  interesting  cor- 
respondence covers  the  whole  of  Palestine  and 
the  Phoenician  coast ;  Mesopotamia  and  Babylo- 
nia, and  even  the  CossaBic  kings  are  represented. 
And  this  correspondence  is  in  the  Assyrio- Baby  Io- 
nian language  and  written  in  Babylonian  cunei- 
form characters.  If  even  the  proud  Egyptians, 
who  so  thoroughly  despised  everything  foreign, 
condescended  to  this  and  had  their  subjects  and 
vassals  write  to  the  king  in  a  foreign  language 
which  the  Egyptians  themselves  had  first  to  learn 
with  much  pains,  this  is  the  clearest  evidence  of 
the  great  power  and  dominant  influence  exercised 
by  Babylonian  culture  on  southwest  Asia  ;  it  ex- 
plains also  very  naturally  how  precisely  the  oldest 
Hebrew  tradition  shows  the  most  remarkable  kin- 
ship with  the  Babylonian. 

This,  then,  is  the  historical  picture  shown  us 
by  southwest  Asia  at  the  time  of  the  migration  of 
the  ancestors  of  the  people  of  Israel ;  Babylonia 
shaken  to  its  foundations  by  the  Cossaeic  conquest, 
Egypt  in  uncontested  possession  of  southwest 
Asia  and  recognized  even  by  the  rulers  of  Mesopo- 
tamia as  chief  power  of  the  age.  Let  us  try  to 
fix  the  time  a  little  more  closely.  The  exodus  of 
Israel  from  Egypt  must  have  occurred,  according 
to  Egyptian  chronology,  about  1300  before  Christ ; 


J 


28    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  residence  of  Israel  in  Egypt  lasted,  according 
to  the  oldest  tradition,  three  generations,  or  in 
round  numbers  a  hundred  years.  This  would 
place  the  migration  to  Egypt  about  1400  B.  C.  If 
we  estimate  the  events  between  the  immigration 
of  Abraham  to  Canaan  and  the  further  migration 
to  Egypt  at  about  one  hundred  years  also,  or  per- 
haps somewhat  more,  we  would  arrive  at  the  time 
for  the  immigration  of  Abraham  to  Canaan  as 
between  1550  and  1500  B.  C. 

Now  if  the  unquestionably  Semitic  inhabitants 
of  Mesopotamia  whom  Abraham  led  leave  Mesopo- 
tamia at  exactly  the  same  time  when  the  Cossseic 
conquest  was  suppressing  and  expelling  the  Semi- 
tic element  from  Mesopotamia ;  if  these  Semitic 
emigrants  follow  a  long  familiar  highway  of  in- 
ternational commerce  into  a  land  where  they  will 
be  under  the  potent  protection  of  Egypt ;  if  later 
they  go  from  the  recognized  Egyptian  province 
to  Egypt  itself, — not  a  migration  from  one  coun- 
try to  another,  but  only  a  migration  from  one 
part  of  a  land  to  another — well,  am  I  saying  too 
much  when  I  declare  that  the  substance  and  the 
historical  pith  of  the  oldest  traditions  of  Israel  fit 
most  perfectly  into  the  picture  of  the  general  his- 
tory of  the  time  and  are  completely  confirmed  by 
it  ?  What  in  fact  the  primitive  history  of  Israel 
was,  we  shall  examine  in  the  next  article. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    29 


CHAPTER  II. 

ISRAEL  PRIOR  TO  THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    NATIONAL 
KINGDOM. 

TT  AVING  satisfied  ourselves  that  Israel's  oldest 
-*--*-    traditions  fit  very  easily  into  the  course  of 
the  ancient  history  of  the  Orient  as  known  to  us 
from  other  sources,  our  task  will  now  be  to  trans- 
late these  oldest  traditions  out  of  the  language  of 
legend  into  that  of  history,  or  in  other  words,  to  \ 
ascertain  their  historical  content.     To   this  end  * 
we  must  first  of  all  have  a  clear  idea  of  the  point 
of  view  that  is  to  be  our  guide  in  the  process. 

With  most  earnest  conviction  I  have  already 
recognized  Abraham  as  a  strictly  historical  per- 
sonage, and  it  might  be  thought  that  what  is  true 
of  the  father  should  hold  for  the  son  and  grand- 
children. But  this  conclusion  would  be  premature. 
Greek  tradition  ascribes  to  Lycurgus,  the  law- 
giver of  Sparta,  two  sons  :  Eunomos  and  Eucos- 
mos,  i.  e.,  Law  and  Order.  No  reasonable  person 
will  doubt  that  Lycurgus  was  a  historical  per- 
sonage, but  that  he  actually  had  two  sons  named 
"Law"  and  "Order  "will  scarcely  be  believed. 
The  tradition  will  be  understood  to  mean  that  by 


3O          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

his  whole  public  activity  he  became  the  father  of 
law  and  order  for  Sparta. 

I  have  purposely  chosen  the  example  of  Lycur- 
gus  because  here  the  names  themselves  speak 
plainly.  It  is  the  same  with  Hebrew  tradition. 
The  names  which  it  gives  us  in  connection  with 
Abraham  are  all  names  of  races  and  tribes,  and 
accordingly  we  are  beyond  question  in  the  realm 
of  personification ;  for  races  never  adopt  the 
names  of  individuals,  but  the  patronymic  tribal 
ancestor  is  first  and  ever  a  composite,  a  personifi- 
cation of  the  people.  When  the  Hellenes  derive 
themselves  from  a  patriarch  Hellen,  who  has  two 
sons,  JEolus  and  Dorus,  and  two  grandsons, 
Achaeus  and  Ion,  no  one  will  dream  of  looking 
for  historical  individuals  here,  but  will  imme- 
diately recognize  in  them  the  entire  race  of  the 
Hellenes  and  the  tribes  into  which  it  was  divided. 
Or  when,  in  the  well-known  list  of  races  in  Gene- 
sis, Shem  has  the  five  sons,  El  am,  Asshur,  Ar- 
pachshad,  Lud,  and  Aram,  every  one  will  see  in 
this  directly  a  very  evident  way  of  representing 
that  those  five  peoples  were  regarded  as  branches 
of  the  great  Semitic  race  and  language  group  to 
which  Israel  itself  belonged. 

And  thus  also  must  the  primitive  history  of 
Israel  be  regarded.  However  plastic  and  distinct 
the  individualities  of  Ishmael  and  Edom,  Israel 
and  Joseph  may  seem  to  us,  they  are  all  only 
personifications  and  representations  of  the  races 
^r  tribes  whose  names  they  bear.  A  glimmer  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    31 

this  truth  is  seen  quite  clearly  in  Hebrew  tradi- 
tion itself.  When  Rebekah,  before  the  birth  of 
the  twins  whose  mother  she  is  to  become,  re- 
ceives the  divine  annunciation  : 

"  Two  nations  are  in  thy  womb, 

And  two  peoples  shall  be  separated  even  from  thy  bowels  : 
And  the  one  people  shall  be  stronger  than  the  other  people  ; 
And  the  elder  shall  serve  the  younger," 

it  is  said  with  all  directness  that  we  are  dealing 
here  not  with  single  individuals,  but  with  races. 
And  when  Jacob  and  Laban  together  set  up  a 
boundary-stone  upon  Mount  Gilead  and  make  a 
solemn  and  sworn  covenant  that  neither  of  them 
henceforth  will  pass  this  boundary  with  evil  in- 
tent, it  is  perfectly  plain  that  this  is  not  a  private  i 
agreement  between  father-in-law  and  son-in-law,  y 
but  a  legal  regulation  of  tribal  boundary  rights 
between  Israel  and  Aram,  which  according  to 
the  Hebrew  manner  of  speaking  reaches  unto 
southward  of  Damascus  and  to  the  mountain  of 
Gilead. 

What  is  historically  significant  in  this  tradition 
is  the  purely  genealogical  element,  the  relations 
of  age  and  kinship  between  the  various  person- 
ages. To  return  once  more  to  the  Greek  illustra- 
tion cited,  just  as  we  must  conclude  when  .^Eolus 
and  Dorus  appear  as  sons,  and  Achseus  and  Ion 
as  grandsons  of  the  patriarch  Hellen,  that  the 
JEolians  and  Dorians  are  older  tribal  organiza- 
tions and  entered  history  earlier  than  the  Achaians 


32    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  lonians,  so  it  is  in  the  case  of  Hebrew  tradi- 
tion :  those  tribes  which  were  consolidated  earlier 
in  a  political  and  national  way  are  regarded  as 
older,  and  the  genealogical  kinship  corresponds  to 
the  ethnographic  relationship.  When  Moab  and 
Ammon  appear  as  sons  of  the  nephew  of  the  pa- 
triarch, and  Edom  and  Israel  on  the  contrary  as 
his  twin  grandsons,  this  means  :  Moab  and  Ammon 
are  closely  related  to  each  other,  and  Israel  too  rec- 
ognizes its  kinship  with  them,  but  only  as  cous- 
ins, not  as  close  kin,  while  with  Edom  it  feels  very 
closely  related,  in  a  kinship  as  of  brothers,  even 
of  twin  brothers.  And  when  of  these  twin  broth- 
ers Edom  is  the  elder,  this  signifies :  Edom  was 
earlier  consolidated  into  a  political  body,  a  nation, 
became  a  people,  in  the  historical  sense,  earlier 
than  Israel.  And  when  Ishmael  is  represented 
as  the  son  of  the  patriarch  by  a  concubine,  this 
means  :  Israel  recognizes  a  race  relationship  even 
with  the  Bedouins  of  the  Syro-Arabian  desert, 
which  borders  on  Palestine,  but  regards  this  rela- 
tionship as  a  very  remote  one.  Having  thus  es- 
tablished the  correct  point  of  view  for  an  histori- 
cal understanding  of  the  oldest  traditions  of  Is- 
rael, let  us  now  proceed  to  loose  their  tongue  and 
hear  their  testimony  as  historical  witnesses. 

As  we  have  seen,  about  1500  B.  C.  a  party  of 
emigrants  from  Mesopotamia  set  out  for  Palestine 
under  the  lead  of  Abraham,  and  among  them 
must  have  been,  along  with  the  ancestors  of  Israel, 
those  of  Moab,  Ammon,  and  Edom  as  well.  That 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    33 

these  races  so  closely  related  to  Israel  are  also  not 
natives  of  the  lands  occupied  by  them  in  historical 
times,  but  are  immigrants,  is  declared  quite  ex- 
pressly, and  certainly  not  without  reason,  by  He- 
brew tradition.  The  new  arrivals  were  nomads, 
wandering  shepherds,  going  about  the  country 
peacefully  and  seeking  pasture  for  their  flocks. 
It  is  therefore  only  natural  that  they  turned  to 
the  portions  of  the  land  best  suited  to  grazing. 
One  branch  soon  crossed  over  the  Jordan  and  set- 
tled in  the  luxuriant  pastures  of  the  country  east 
of  the  Jordan  ;  and  here  where  the  Egyptian  do- 
minion did  not  reach  they  succeeded  in  a  compar* 
atively  short  time  in  forming  a  political  and 
national  organization  asMoaband  Ammon.  Sep-  , 
arated  from  the  others  by  the  Jordan  these  tribes  \ 
thenceforth  went  their  own  way. 

West  of  the  Jordan  the  march  went  mainly  to- 
wards the  south.  The  more  thinly  populated  south 
with  the  abundant  growth  of  grass  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Judah  seemed  made  for  such  nomadic 
shepherds,  and  it  is  therefore  not  accidental,  but 
rests  on  sound  historical  tradition,  when  the 
legend  locates  Abraham  as  well  as  Isaac  in  the 
south.  In  Canaan  they  adopt  the  language  of 
Canaan  :  this  important  process,  too,  must  have 
taken  place  in  the  pre-Egyptian  time,  and  at  the 
same  time  and  in  the  same  way  among  all  related 
tribes ;  for  the  Moabites,  too,  speak  a  language 
differing  from  the  Hebrew  only  in  unimportant 
Dialectic  respects. 
3 


34    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

But  we  have  to  examine  another  important 
element  of  the  tradition.  It  represents  Abraham 
as  a  religious  leader  and  hero,  and  I  find  myself 
compelled  to  regard  this  feature  also  as  historical. 
The  appearance  and  achievements  of  Moses  would 
be  entirely  inexplicable  unless  the  people  already 
had  a  distinctly  marked  religious  character  :  for 
it  is  "  the  God  of  the  Fathers  "  whom  Moses  pro- 
poses to  bring  and  proclaim  to  Israel.  The  details 
of  this  matter  are  of  course  beyond  inquiry  and 
recognition,  but  we  must  maintain  the  fact  un- 
qualifiedly. 

The  next  occurrence  of  historical  importance  is 
a  further  division  within  the  portion  of  the  Abra- 
hamitic  expedition  that  remained  in  Palestine. 
J  Not  too  soon  after  the  settlement  in  Canaan,  — 
1  Edom  and  Israel  are  late-born  grandsons  of  Abra- 
ham,— the  chief  part  turned  further  toward  the 
south,  where  on  Mount  Seir  dwelt  the  evidently 
uncivilized  tribe  of  the  Horites,  and  where  the 
very  nature  of  the  land  was  a  guarantee  that  the 
dominion  of  Egypt  was  but  nominal.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  overcoming  the  Horites  and  in  forming 
a  political  and  national  unity  as  Edom.  More 
than  a  thousand  years  they  remained  in  undisputed 
possession  of  this  territory.  About  the  time  when 
these  events  must  have  taken  place,  the  Egyptian 
prefect  in  Jerusalem,  Abdichiba,  writes  to  the 
Pharaoh  Amenhotep,  in  the  before-mentioned  cor- 
respondence of  Tell-el-Amarna,  of  Chabiri  tribes 
that  were  making  him  much  trouble  and  against 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.          35 

whom  he  urgently  begs  the  Pharaoh  for  support. 
There  has  been  an  attempt  to  find  the  Hebrews 
in  these  Chabiri,  and  the  identification  is  possi- 
ble from  a  linguistic  point  of  view  ;  but  it  is  too 
much  out  of  harmony  with  the  whole  character  of 
Israelitish  tradition  itself  for  us  to  adopt  it.  Yet 
we  may  learn  from  these  letters  that  southern 
Palestine  was  at  that  time  in  ferment  and  tur- 
moil, and  thus  we  have  even  here  the  appropriate 
historical  background. 

Of  course,  the  Abrahamitic  expedition  was  much 
reduced  by  the  separation  of  Moab,  Ammon,  and 
Edom,  and  perhaps  it  would  have  been  unable  to 
maintain  its  identity  if  help  had  not  come  from 
the  original  home  in  Mesopotamia.  This  is  Jacob, 
whose  name  means  "reinforcement,"  "strag- 
gler."  Jacob  appears  as  father  of  twelve  sons  : 
these  are  the  tribes  into  which  Israel  was  divided 
in  historical  times.  Legend  has  these  sons,  with 
the  exception  of  Benjamin,  born  in  Haran  and 
the  patriarch  brought  thence  by  them  to  Pales- 
tine :  this  is  significant  and  shows  that  we  are 
dealing  here  with  fresh  additions  from  without. 
Among  these  twelve  sons  the  genealogical  rela- 
tionship is  especially  important.  They  fall  into 
four  groups,  personified  by  the  legend  in  four 
mothers  :  two  wives  and  two  concubines  of  the 
patriarch.  We  have  four  groups  :  a  Leah  group, 
a  Rachel  group,  a  Bilhah  group,  and  a  Zilpah 
group.  The  oldest  and  most  important  of  these 
groups  is  the  Leah  group,  and  next  to  it  the  Zil- 


< 


36    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

pah  group  ;  but  not  less  in  power  and  nobility  was 
the  Rachel  group,  with  which  the  Bilhah  group 
was  more  closely  connected. 

In  the  origin  and  formation  of  the  tribes  we 
have  one  of  the  obscurest  points  in  the  primitive 
history  of  Israel ;  but  weighty  reasons  confirm  us 
in  thinking  that  we  must  place  the  beginnings  of 
tribal  formation  in  the  pre-Egyptian  period.  In 
order  to  avoid  false  conceptions,  we  must  en- 
deavor to  get  a  clear  idea  of  what  a  tribe  is,  ac- 
cording to  oriental  views.  We  are  inclined  to 
conceive  of  a  tribe  as  something  great  and  im- 
portant; but  that  would  be  a  great  mistake. 
The  Turkish  Bureau  of  Statistics  publishes  a  list 
of  the  Bedouin  tribes  that  wander  in  Dscholan, 
the  region  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  ;  there  are 
29  enumerated  and  their  number  given  by  tents, 
the  tents  being  estimated  at  an  average  of  five 
persons;  of  these  29  tf  tribes  "  two  consist  of  4  tents, 
two  of  6,  five  of  8,  and  the  most  numerous  of  300. 
This,  then,  would  make  for  the  largest  in  round 
numbers  1500  souls,  while  groups  of  only  20  souls 
are  reckoned  as  separate  tribes.  On  an  average 
each  of  these  29  tribes  has  40  tents,  or  in  round 
numbers  200  souls.  Such  are  the  ideas  of  size 
with  which  we  have  to  deal  in  treating  the 
earliest  tribal  history  of  Israel.  Even  in  histor- 
ical times  the  tribe  of  Dan  is  estimated  at  600 
fighting  men,  and  all  Israel  at  40,000. 

It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  Abrahamitic 
expedition  had  no  connection  with  the  formation 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    37 

of  the  tribes,  and  there  has  been  a  disposition  to 
see  in  the  Leah  group,  which  is  generally  re- 
garded as  the  oldest  and  comprising  the  first- 
born sons,  the  portions  of  the  Abrahamitic  ex- 
pedition that  remained  in  Canaan,  and  in  the 
Eachel  group  the  reinforcements  from  Haran,  so 
that  Jacob  and  Joseph  would  at  bottom  be  terms 
of  the  same  size  historically.  At  any  rate  we 
must  distinguish  two  expeditions  ;  the  second  we 
shall  call  the  Jacobitic.  This  one  united  with 
the  portions  of  the  Abrahamitic  expedition  that 
remained  in  Canaan — the  legend  has  Jacob  also 
settle  in  the  southern  part  of  the  land — and  now 
becomes  the  representative  of  the  historical 
development.  And  the  two  expeditions  wera 
united  not  outwardly  alone,  but  spiritually  a£\ 
well  :  the  faith  of  Abraham  was  transmitted  tcr 
Jacob  and  was  perpetuated  in  him  as  the  noblest 
inheritance  from  his  ancestors. 

The  next  feature  reported  by  tradition  is  the 
internal  strifes  among  the  tribes.  Presuming 
upon  his  power  and  upon  being  the  representa- 
tive of  the  national  history,  Joseph,  from  whom 
Benjamin  had  probably  not  yet  separated,  laid 
claim  to  the  hegemony,  but  had  to  give  up  in 
the  face  of  a  coalition  of  the  other  tribes,  and 
went  to  Egypt,  whose  fertile  and  grassy  border- 
lands on  the  side  of  Asia,  on  the  isthmus  of  Suez, 
had  been  from  early  times  the  scene  of  strife 
among  Semitic  nomads. 

With  Joseph  the  Bilhah  group  had  lost  its  chief 


38    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

support.  Now  the  Leah  group  attempted  to  gain 
control  of  it,  and  the  first-born  of  the  Leah  group, 
Reuben,  seemed  to  have  planned  to  achieve  this  by 
violence  ;  but  the  tough  and  doughty  tribes  of 
Dan  and  Naphtali  maintained  their  independence, 
and  Eeuben  retired  from  the  contest  so  reduced 
that  he  lost  forever  his  birthright,  i.  e.,  his 
former  power  and  standing.  The  only  case  in 
which  the  tribe  of  Reuben,  or  members  of  it, 
play  a  historical  part,  is  in  the  insurrection  of  the 
Reubenites,  Dathan  and  Abiram,  against  the 
Levite  Moses,  to  whom  they  deny  the  leadership, 
—another  contest  for  the  hegemony.  Legend 
has  personified  these  occurrences  in  a  crime  on 

le  part  of  Reuben  with  Bilhah,  his  father's 
(,vvife,  on  account  of  which  he  is  cursed  and  de- 
rived of  his  birthright. 

But  soon  conditions  must  have  arisen  which 
forced  all  the  tribes  to  migrate.  They  followed 
the  path  of  Joseph,  and  the  latter  now  took 
noble  revenge  ;  forgetting  the  cause  of  offense 
and  mindful  only  of  the  old  kinship,  he  hospi- 
tably opened  to  his  distressed  brethren  the  terri- 
tory occupied  by  himself. 

Thus  all  the  sons  of  Jacob  had  come  to  Egypt. 
At  first  the  Egyptian  government,  to  which  such 
settlements  of  Semitic  nomads  in  the  borderlands 
was  a  very  common  affair,  seems  to  have  met 
the  strangers  with  kindly  neutrality  ;  but  soon 
there  was  a  very  keen  change  in  their  situation, 
and  the  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  a  change 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.     39 

of  the  historical  and  political  conditions.  Even 
in  the  Tell-el-Amarna  correspondence,  Ribaddi, 
the  Egyptian  prefect  of  Gebal  (the  Greek 
Byblos),  complains  of  the  Chatti  (spelled  also 
Cheta,  and  Khita)  who  are  advancing  threaten- 
ingly against  northern  Palestine.  This  people, 
the  Hittites  of  the  Old  Testament,  did  in  fact  at 
this  time,  during  a  temporary  decline  of  the  Egyp- 
tian power,  set  up  a  great  kingdom  between  the 
Euphrates  and  Lebanon.  Judging  by  the  names  of 
their  rulers  and  the  numerous  monuments  left  by 
them,  they  were  not  Semites,  and  the  attempt  has 
been  made  to  identify  them  with  the  Armenians, 
and  even  to  designate  their  language  as  ancient 
Armenian. 

When  under  Seti  I.  the  Egyptian  power  begam 
to  revive,  it  undertook  immediately  the  recovery  V 
of  the  former  dominion  in  Asia ;  but  Seti  was' 
diverted  toward  the  West  and  had  to  devote  his 
chief  attention  to  the  Libyans.  His  son,  Eameses 
II.,  however,  equipped  a  great  expedition  against 
the  kingdom  of  the  Cheta  and  claims  to  have  sub- 
dued them  completely.  But  the  end  of  the  long 
contest  was  a  treaty  which  proves  the  very  oppo- 
site :  the  two  opponents,  who  had  apparently 
recognized  themselves  as  well  matched,  concluded 
a  perpetual  peace,  the  letter  of  which  is  preserved 
to  us  as  the  oldest  political  treaty  in  history. 
When  this  treaty,  —  the  Egyptian  version,  it 
should  be  added,  in  which  alone  it  is  preserved, — 
begins  with  the  words:  "Chetasar,  the  great 


40          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

king  of  Cheta,  enters  into  treaty  from  this  day 
on  with  Ramessu,  the  great  prince  of  Egypt," 
one  sees  directly  that  this  is  not  the  style  in  which 
the  vanquished  deals  with  the  victor.  Evidently 
the  kingdom  of  the  Cheta  remained  unreduced 
and  embraced  all  northern  Palestine,  while  only 
southern  Palestine  returned  into  the  former  sub- 
jection to  Egypt. 

That  this  perpetual  peace  was  not  a  finality  was 
probably  clear  to  both  the  contracting  parties, 
and  at  least  it  was  a  heavily  armed  peace.  There- 
fore we  can  understand  why  Barneses  regarded 
distrustfully  the  alien  elements  on  his  eastern 
border  facing  Asia  ;  besides,  for  his  great  archi- 
tectural undertakings, — he  was  unquestionably 
the  greatest  builder  of  ancient  Egypt, — he  needed 
/laborers,  and  so  he  resorted  to  the  measure  of  im- 
pressing as  public  slaves  the  Semitic  settlers 
on  the  isthmus  of  Suez  and  forced  them  to  do 
heavy  labor  under  strong  military  guard.  It  is 
claimed  that  there  is  a  direct  reference  to  the  Is- 
raelites in  a  papyrus  of  the  time  of  Rameses  II. 
which  speaks  of  "Apuriu,"  who  drag  stone  for 
the  constructions  of  King  Rameses.  These  Apuriu, 
who  are  also  mentioned  elsewhere,  are  not,  in- 
deed, the  Hebrews,  but  the  papyrus  is  incontes- 
table evidence  that  under  Rameses  II.  alien  set- 
tlers were  really  treated  as  the  Israelites  were 
treated  by  him  according  to  their  traditions.  In 
the  very  Land  of  Goshen  there  have  been  discov- 
ered numerous  structures  of  bricks  made  of  Nile 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.          41 

mud  and  chopped  straw,  and  bearing  the  arms  of 
Kameses  II. 

And  so  from  free  nomads  the  Israelites  had 
become  Egyptian  serfs.  It  will  be  easily  under- 
stood that  of  all  people  Bedouins,  in  whom  the 
proud  spirit  of  independence  is  most  character- 
istic, could  not  endure  such  treatment ;  among 
them  especially  it  was  inevitable  that  nature 
should  rebel  against  the  outrageous  constraint 
which  struck  and  wounded  mortally  the  very 
heart  of  their  being.  As  long  as  Rameses  ruled, 
indeed,  all  resistance  and  all  attempts  at  escape 
seemed  vain.  But  under  his  son  and  successor, 
Merenptah,  an  entire  change  in  affairs  took  place. 
In  the  fifth  year  of  Merenptah  there  poured  over 
Egypt  an  invasion  of  several  distinct  foreign  races, 
which  brought  the  government  to  the  verge  of  \ 
ruin.  Merenptah  claims,  indeed,  to  have  beaten  T 
and  completely  overcome  the  enemy,  but  it  re- 
mains true  that  the  Egyptian  power  received  in 
these  occurrences  a  blow  from  which  it  was  long 
in  recovering. 

These  enemies  from  without  seem  to  have  come 
simultaneously  with  all  sorts  of  domestic  troubles 
and  distresses,  and  thus  the  hour  of  freedom  for 
Israel  had  struck.  Moses,  a  Hebrew  of  the  tribe 
of  Levi,  had  by  favorable  providence  had  access 
to  the  learning  and  civilization  of  Egypt, — even 
his  name,  Mesu,  is  genuinely  and  specifically 
Egyptian.  But  his  heart  inclined  him  to  his  peo- 
ple ;  he  preferred  to  be  a  brother  of  these  despised 


42    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

slaves  rather  than  to  live  in  the  enjoyment  of 
Egyptian  glory  and  Egyptian  splendor.  One 
single  thought  dominated  him  ;  how  to  become 
the  rescuer  and  liberator  of  his  people.  With 
keen  insight  he  perceived  that  the  only  possibility 
of  rescuing  them  from  the  iron  clutch  of  the 
Egyptian  border  fortresses  and  garrisons  was  a 
desperate  course  :  through  the  sea  to  the  desert. 
He  gathers  more  detailed  information  about  places 
and  conditions,  enters  into  connections  with  the 
related  Bedouins  of  the  Arabian  Desert,  and  when 
he  thinks  the  proper  moment  come  they  start 
with  wife  and  child,  with  flocks  and  belongings. 
By  skilful  zigzag  marches  he  succeeds  in  eluding 
the  Egyptian  border- guards,  and  already  the  strait 
.of  Suez  lies  before  them  when  they  are  overtaken 
/r>y  a  troop  of  Egyptian  scouts.  Before  them  the 
breakers,  behind  them  the  pursuers  thirsting  for 
vengeance, — a  moment  of  extreme  distress  !  But 
where  need  is  greatest  there  God  is  nearest.  A 
mighty  northeast  wind  lays  dry  the  shallow  strait 
and  they  go  through  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
into  the  desert,  into  freedom.  The  pursuing 
Egyptians  are  surprised  by  the  returning  waters  ; 
Israel  is  saved.  Then,  as  Exodus  says  briefly,  but 
with  magnificent  effect,  "  then  the  people  feared 
the  Lord  and  they  believed  in  God  and  in  his  serv- 
ant Moses. "  This  overwhelming  moment  created 
the  people  of  Israel ;  they  never  forgot  it ;  here 
they  recognized  the  God  of  their  fathers,  who 
with  strong  hand  and  outstretched  arm  had  saved 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    43 

his  people  and  brought  them  out  of  the  house  of 
bondage,  out  of  Egypt. 

Under  Merenptah,  as  we  know  from  documen- 
tary evidence,  southern  Palestine  and  the  sea- 
coast  was  still  in  uncontested  Egyptian  possession, 
and  the  neighboring  kingdom  of  the  Cheta  was 
obliged,  according  to  the  treaty  referred  to,  to  de- 
liver Egyptian  deserters  and  fugitives  ;  therefore 
Moses  led  the  liberated  people  into  the  gorges  of 
Sinai,  whither  a  troop  of  wandering  nomads  could 
indeed  make  its  way,  but  never  an  army  of  any 
size,  Israel  remained  for  some  time  in  Sinai,  and 
here  in  this  mighty  highland  scenery  tradition 
locates  the  capital  achievement  of  Moses,  his  re- 
ligious reorganization  of  the  people.  It  is  one  Of 
the  most  remarkable  moments  in  the  history  of  A 
mankind,  the  hirth-hour  of  the  religion  of  the  <J 
spirit.  In  the  thunderstorms  of  Sinai  the  God  of 
revelation  himself  comes  down  upon  the  earth : 
here  we  have  the  dawn  of  the  day  which  was  to 
break  upon  the  whole  human  race,  and  among 
the  greatest  mortals  who  ever  walked  this  earth 
Moses  will  always  remain  one  of  the  greatest. 

But  Sinai  was  only  a  station,  not  the  goal  of 
the  expedition.  Soon  the  people,  strengthened  by 
the  rest  and  compacted  hy  discipline,  wandered 
on  as  far  as  Kadesh-barnea  in  the  desert  south 
of  Canaan,  very  probably  the  modern  Ain  Kudes 
on  the  southwest  slope  of  the  plateau  of  Azazimeh. 
This  place,  sufficient  as  a  settlement  for  simple 
shepherds,  was  out  of  reach  of  the  Egyptian 


44          HISTORY    OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

arms,  and  yet  at  the  gate  of  the  land  of  the 
fathers.  Here  for  a  time  they  could  quietly 
await  the  development  of  affairs,  and  from  all  we 
can  judge  the  stay  in  Kadesh  must  have  been  a 
tolerably  long  one.  Probably  here  too  occurred 
the  death  of  Moses.  That  he  personally  did  not 
enter  the  Promised  Land,  nor  any  one  else  of  those 
who  left  Egypt,  is  an  important  feature  of  the 
tradition,  the  more  essential  when  one  remembers 
that  the  distance  involved  is  one  that  can  be  cov- 
ered easily  under  normal  conditions  in  two  weeks. 
After  the  death  of  Merenptah  Egypt  fell  into  a 
condition  of  wild  anarchy,  which  made  any  inter- 
ference in  the  affairs  of  Palestine  impossible. 
His  grandson,  Setnecht,  finally  succeeded  in  re- 
storing order ;  but  then  there  came  a  new  danger. 
In  the  eighth  year  of  his  successor,  Eameses  III., 
a  general  race-migration  swept  in  upon  northern 
Syria  and  Palestine.  We  are  told  of  a  whole  se- 
ries of  races  who  came  bringing  with  them  their 
wives  and  children  to  seek  new  dwellings.  Ram- 
eses  was  obliged  to  take  measures  against  the  im- 
pending danger.  With  a  great  army  and  a  strong 
fleet  he  set  out  for  Palestine,  and  the  experienced 
military  art  of  Egypt  was  successful  in  defeating 
the  undisciplined  hordes.  The  danger  to  Egypt 
was  removed,  and  the  glory  of  the  Egyptian 
name  in  Palestine  was  revived — but  it  was  a  final 
flickering  before  extinction.  After  this  we  hear 
no  more  of  the  deeds  of  the  Egyptians  in  Ca- 
naan ;  indeed  when  the  first  great  Assyrian  con- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    45 

queror,  Tiglath-Pileser,  advanced  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean, the  Pharaoh  hastened  to  send  him 
presents. 

This  race-migration  in  the  time  of  Rameses  III. 
had  two  great  results.  It  evidently  destroyed  the 
kingdom  of  the  Cheta,  of  whom  no  more  islieard, 
and  it  brought  the  Philistines  to  Palestine.  In 
the  army  of  these  hordes  Rameses  repeatedly 
makes  prominent  mention  of  the  "Pursta."  As 
the  Egyptian  script  regularly  represents  the  "  1 " 
in  foreign  words  by  "  r  "  and  makes  no  distinction 
in  the  sounds,  we  may  also  read  the  name 
"Pulsta,"  and  have  probably  to  recognize  in  them 
the  Philistines,  who  were  of  course  also  immi- 
grants, and  whose  alien  race  character  was  es- 
pecially felt.  In  nature  and  customs  they 
entirely  different  from  all  the  other  races  of 
estine,  and  are  therefore  justly  to  be  regarded  as 
the  remnant  of  that  migration  which  remained 
in  Palestine. 

But  we  have  almost  lost  sight  of  Israel,  and  shall 
now  return  to  it.  It  was  in  all  probability  the 
consequence  of  the  just-mentioned  disturbances 
which  brought  Israel  to  the  end  of  its  wanderings. 
Driven  in  turn,  perhaps,  by  the  Philistines  who 
were  settling  in  their  country,  the  Canaanites, 
led  by  their  king,  Sihon,  made  an  advance  into 
the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  expelling  the 
Moabites  and  the  Ammonites  from  the  most  fer- 
tile parts  of  their  territory  and  founding  a  new 
kingdom  with  Heshbon  for  its  capital.  At  this 


46    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

point  the  conquered  bethought  themselves  of  their 
kinsmen  in  the  desert  of  Kadesh.  Perhaps  called 
to  aid  by  Moab  and  Ammon  themselves,  in  any 
case  they  were  welcome  allies,  and  the  fresh  and 
unexhausted  vigor  of  Israel  accomplished  the 
work.  King  Sihon  was  defeated  at  Jahaz  and  his 
kingdom  destroyed,  but  Israel  took  up  its  dwell- 
ing in  the  bountiful  land  and  kept  for  itself  the 
reward  of  the  contest  and  victory.  Soon,  how- 
ever, the  fertile  valleys  and  fields  ceased  to  suffice 
for  the  constantly  increasing  men  and  flocks  :  it 
was  necessary  to  seek  homes  west  of  the  Jordan. 
Judah  led  the  advance.  He  crossed  the  Jordan 
aja'd  turned  southward  toward  the  mountains  and 
fertile  lowlands  which  afterwards  bore  his  name. 
Here  Judah  succeeded,  indeed,  in  establishing 
himself,  but  only  after  heavy  losses.  Many  mix- 
tures with  alien  races  took  place,  but  after  long 
and  persistent  struggles  the  intruder  finally  over- 
came the  native ;  at  the  time  of  David,  when 
Judah  enters  the  clear  light  of  history,  the  Israel- 
itish  part  of  the  population  is  in  unquestioned  con- 
trol of  the  land  and  it  is  recognized  as  distinctly 
Israelitish. 

A  second  and  entirely  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
made  by  Simeon  and  Levi.  Through  treachery 
they  got  possession  of  the  Canaanite  city  of  She- 
chem  which  is  the  key  to  the  mountain  region 
of  Ephraim  ;  but  Israel  recoiled  in  horror  from 
the  disgraceful  deed,  and  the  transgressing  tribes 
fell  victims  to  the  vengeance  of  the  Canaanites. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    47 

Levi  was  obliterated  as  a  tribe,  to  reappear  by  a 
most  remarkable  metamorphosis  as  a  sacerdotal 
tribe  ;  the  remnants  of  Simeon  took  refuge  with 
their  nearest  kinsmen,  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and 
were  absorbed  by  it. 

The  third  and  most  successful  invasion  was 
conducted  by  the  house  of  Joseph.  Only  Eeuben 
and  Gad  remained  behind  in  the  country  east  of 
the  Jordan  ;  the  other  seven  tribes  united  under 
the  lead  of  the  Ephraimite  Joshua  for  a  combined 
expedition  against  middle  Palestine.  They  took 
advantage  of  unusually  low  water  in  the  Jordan 
to  make  a  sudden  assault  upon  Jericho,  which 
they  captured  and  destroyed  ;  they  also  succeeded 
in  taking  Ai  and  Bethel. 

Only  now  did  the  Canaanites,  who  were  evi-  \ 
dently  enervated  by  luxury,  and  no  match  in  W 
respect  of  bravery  for  the  impetuous  sons  of  the 
desert,  rouse  themselves  to  united  resistance  ;  but 
Joshua  defeated  them  at  Gibeon,  and  so  Israel 
was  firmly  established  in  middle  Palestine.  But 
this  does  not  mean  that  Israel  was  in  full  posses- 
sion of  the  land  :  by  far  the  best  and  most  fertile 
portions  of  it,  and  especially  the  majority  of  the 
cities,  whose  strong  fortifications  made  them  im- 
pregnable to  the  primitive  military  skill  of  the 
Israelites,  remained  in  possession  of  the  Canaan- 
ites ;  it  was  chiefly  the  woody  mountain-chains 
of  northern  and  middle  Palestine  that  had  come 
into  the  power  of  Israel,  and  the  Canaanites 
had  partly  to  be  subdued  by  force  and  partly 


48    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

to  be  peacefully  absorbed — a  long  and   difficult 
task. 

That  Israel  had  the  ability  to  carry  on  this 
struggle  of  centuries  deliberately  and  with  final 
success  is  due  entirely  to  Moses  and  his  work. 
Moses  had  given  the  people  a  nationality  and  in 
this  an  inalienable  palladium  which,  purified 
and  strengthened  by  the  power  of  religion,  could 
not  be  destroyed,  but  of  itself  led  on  to  victory. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  Israel  in  Canaan  did  not 
become  Canaanitish ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the 
Canaanites  became  Israelitish. 

But  this  outcome  of  the  contest  of  the  nation- 
alijfcies  was  by  no  means  certain  to  human  fore- 
sight.     In  Canaan,  Israel  adopted  from  the  Ca- 
A  naanites  agriculture  and  all  the  arts  of  domiciliated 
V  life.     How  easily  this  might  have  led  to  a  change 
in  national  character,  a  loss  of  national  individ- 
uality, so  that  Israel  would  have  been  conquered 
and  subdued  spiritually  by  the  Canaanites  ! 

Besides,  quite  apart  from  the  superior  numbers 
and  civilization  of  the  Canaanites,  Israel  had 
within  itself  the  worst  of  enemies  and  a  germ  of 
destruction.  This  was  the  proud  sense  of  independ- 
ence and  the  strongly-developed  family  feeling 
of  the  nomad,  which  did  not  immediately  vanish 
from  the  national  character  with  the  surrender 
of  the  nomadic  fashion  of  life.  After  the  united 
effort  under  Joshua  had  but  barely  laid  the  foun- 
dation, the  people  again  broke  up  into  tribes  and 
clans,  which  now  aimlessly  sought  new  places  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    49 

settlement,    each    on    its  own  account  and  un- 
mindful of  its  neighbors. 

Judah  had  been  entirely  lost  sight  of  by  the 
other  tribes.  Zebulun  and  Naphtali  went  into 
the  extreme  north,  where  under  the  leadership 
of  a  certain  Barak  of  Kedesh-naphtali,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  King  Jabin  of  Hazor  and 
thus  secured  their  tribal  territory  in  the  North. 
A  part  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh,  the  families  of 
Jair  and  Machir,  crossed  the  Jordan  and  con- 
quered the  land  east  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee — an 
event  of  much  importance,  since  thus  was  estab- 
lished the  permanent  connection  between  the 
country  east  of  the  Jordan  and  that  west  of  it. 
The  tribe  of  Dan  tried  first  to  establish  permanent 
homes  in  the  fertile  plain  sloping  toward  the 
Mediterranean  ;  but  in  spite  of  all  its  bravery  it 
did  not  succeed  in  conquering  territory  from  the 
powerful  and  warlike  Philistines  :  the  poetic,  one 
might  almost  say  romantic,  expression  of  this 
fruitless  struggle  between  the  tribe  and  the  Phi- 
listines is  preserved  in  the  story  of  Samson.  They 
finally  left  this  region  and  in  the  utmost  north 
conquered  the  city  of  Laish  on  the  slope  of 
Mount  Hermon,  giving  it  their  own  name  of  Dan. 
The  division  of  Benjamin  from  Joseph,  and  its 
continuance  as  a  separate  tribe  must  also  be  dated 
from  this  time.  Shamir  in  the  mountains  of 
Ephraim  was  occupied  by  the  family  of  Tolah  of 
the  tribe  of  Issachar  ;  Pirathon  in  the  same  region, 
by  the  family  of  Abdon  ;  Aijalon,  by  the  family  of 


50    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

Elon  from  the  tribe  of  Zebulun.  Only  an  ex- 
treme danger  could  bring  about  union  among 
these,  and  not  even  this  a  complete  or  permanent 
union. 

After  the  time  of  Joshua,  the  Canaanites  seem 
to  have  made  only  one  more  effort,  by  gathering 
and  exerting  all  their  forces,  to  overcome  the  in- 
truders. Under  the  leadership  of  a  certain  Sisera 
of  Harosheth-haggojim  a  powerful  coalition  of 
Canaanitish  kings  was  formed,  which  undertook 
a  war  of  extermination  against  Israel.  And  it 
seemed  about  to  succeed :  the  Israelites  were 
already  withdrawing  into  the  hiding-places  of 
their  woods  and  mountains  when  aid  came  from 
heaven.  Deborah,  a  divinely  inspired  woman, 
j  Rekindled  the  spirits  of  the  discouraged  troops. 
V  Under  the  lead  of  Barak  of  the  tribe  of  Issachar 
the  fighting-men  of  seven  tribes  assembled  upon 
the  venerable  and  sacred  Mount  Tabor,  and  the 
Canaanites  gave  way  before  the  impetuous  attack 
of  these  troops  fighting  for  God  and  their  exist- 
ence. At  Taanach  by  the  river  Kishon  they  were 
beaten  and  scattered  ;  Sisera  himself  was  slain 
on  his  flight  by  a  woman.  After  this  battle  we 
hear  no  more  of  any  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
Canaanites  :  it  settled  the  destiny  of  Palestine  for 
good  in  favor  of  Israel. 

While  Israel  had  thus  obtained  relief  from 
the  Canaanites,  it  was  now  threatened  by  an- 
other enemy.  The  races  related  to  Israel  looked 
enviously  upon  its  success,  and  now  wanted  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.     51 

share  of  the  Canaanite  booty.  Moab  advanced 
across  the  Jordan,  and  its  king,  Eglon,  received 
at  Jericho  homage  and  tribute  from  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  but  the  Benjaminite  Ehud  stabbed 
him  and  freed  his  people  from  the  foreign  yoke. 
Ammon,  too,  advanced  to  the  Jordan,  and  the 
hard-pressed  tribe  of  Gad  was  saved  only  by  the 
bravery  of  Jephthah,  whose  victory  was  made 
especially  memorable  by  the  tragic  circumstances 
connected  with  it, — the  hero  was  forced  by  a  too 
hasty  vow  to  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  his  only 
child,  a  beloved  daughter.  Jephthah  had  also  to 
wage  domestic  war.  The  tribes  of  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh  regarded  with  jealous  and  anxious 
eyes  the  rising  power  of  the  tribe  of  Gad,  which 
lay  between  them,  and  tried  to  extend  their  own 
territory  by  an  act  of  aggression  against  Gad  ;\ 
but  they  were  repulsed  by  the  Gaddites,  under 
Jephthah,  and  suffered  a  fearful  defeat. 

If  Israel  was  so  lacking  in  inner  harmony,  it  is 
no  wonder  that  its  enemies  had  free  play.  Even 
the  marauding  Bedouins  of  the  desert  made  plun- 
dering incursions  into  the  land  which  was  exposed 
to  them  as  a  defenceless  prey.  Such  a  band  of 
Midianites  advanced  even  to  Mount  Tabor  in 
the  extreme  north  of  the  country,  not  far  from 
the  Sea  of  Galilee.  But  this  very  expedition  was 
to  bear  far-reaching  consequences.  In  pure  wan- 
tonness the  Midianites  had  slaughtered  on  Tabor 
some  captured  members  of  the  noble  family  of 
Abiezer,  of  the  tribe  of  Manasseh.  Thereupon, 


52          HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL. 

Gideon,  or  Jerubbaal,  the  head  of  the  family, 
took  up  the  sword  to  avenge  the  blood  of  his  mur- 
dered brethren.  He  summoned  the  members  and 
dependents  of  his  family,  three  hundred  men  all 
told,  and  with  these  pursued  the  retreating  Mid- 
ianites.  Far  beyond  the  Jordan,  on  the  very 
border  of  the  desert,  he  overtook  them  ;  he  suc- 
ceeded in  dispersing  the  enemy  and  in  taking 
captive  their  two  kings,  Zebah  and  Zalmunna, 
whom  he  himself  struck  down  in  expiation  for 
his  murdered  brethren,  after  his  eldest  son, 
Jether,  had  refused  to  do  it.  On  his  return  he 
chastised  the  inhabitants  of  Succoth  and  Penuel, 
who1  had  scornfully  refused  to  aid  him  in  his  pur- 
suij  of  vengeance.  After  this  victory  Gideon 
must  have  established  a  regular  tribal  kingdom  ; 
\in  his  ancestral  city  of  Ophrah  he  erected  a 
great  ephod,  or  idol,  from  the  gold  of  the  Midian- 
itish  booty,  and  maintained  there  a  regular  court 
and  numerous  wives. 

Thus,  the  first  attempt  at  political  concentra- 
tion, the  establishment  of  a  tribal  kingdom,  had 
originated  with  the  house  of  Joseph,  and  from 
this  tribal  kingdom  might  have  grown  a  national 
kingdom,  but  the  time  for  it  had  not  yet  come. 
During  his  life  Gideon  was  in  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  the  sway  over  Joseph  ;  but  after  his  death 
harem  politics,  the  curse  of  all  oriental  royal 
houses,  overthrew  his  family.  Abimelech,  his 
son  by  a  woman  from  the  still  purely  Canaanitish 
city  of  Shechem,  with  the  aid  of  kinsmen  in  this 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    53 

city,  appropriated  the  inheritance  of  his  father. 
He  attacked  Ophrah  and  slew  there  upon  one 
stone  all  of  his  brothers,  seventy  in  number,  ac- 
cording to  the  legend  ;  only  the  youngest  escaped. 
Of  course  this  was  not  the  way  to  establish  the 
kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  the  Israelitish  people. 
Abimelech  enjoyed  the  usurped  throne  only  three 
years.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  fell  into  a 
quarrel  with  the  Shechemites.  Toward  them, 
too,  he  acted  the  Israelitish  king,  and  the  proud 
Canaanitish  nobles  would  not  endure  this  of  their 
creature.  An  open  insurrection  against  him  took 
place,  in  consequence  of  which  he  sacked  and 
utterly  destroyed  Shechem.  But  before  the  Ca- 
naanitish city  of  Thebez,  which  he  was  threaten- 
ing with  the  same  fate,  destiny  overtook  himV  v 
As  he  was  on  the  point  of  setting  fire  to  the  tower  V 
in  which  the  inhabitants  of  Thebez  had  taken 
refuge,  a  woman  threw  a  millstone  down  upon 
him  from  the  battlements  of  the  tower  and  killed 
him. 

Thus  the  first  attempt  at  an  Israelitish  king- 
dom ended  in  blood  and  murder.  But  it  failed  not 
on  its  own  account,  but  because  of  the  manner  of 
its  execution.  Conditions  called  for  a  repetition 
of  the  attempt  ;  only  it  must  be  no  tribal  king- 
dom, but  a  national  one.  It  was  an  absolute 
necessity.  Only  through  the  union,  in  one  strong 
(hand,  of  all  the  divided,  and  therefore  impotent 
forces,  could  the  way  be  paved  for  order,  and  race 
and  nationality  be  maintained.  True,  it  required 


54    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

first  a  great  danger  to  overcome  all  the  centrifu- 
gal forces  in  Israel,  and  a  gigantic  danger  really 
came  ;  but  in  the  fire  of  this  extreme  distress 
Israel  was  welded  together  into  a  united  and 
strong  nation. 

The  truculent  people  of  the  Philistines,  well 
trained  in  war,  took  advantage  of  the  weakness 
of  Israel  and  advanced  toward  the  mountain 
region  of  Ephraim  into  the  fertile  plain  of  Jezreel. 
The  first  clash  at  Ebenezer  resulted  unfortunately 
for  Israel.  Thereupon  they  fetched  from  the  tem- 
ple at  Shiloh,  the  old  military  shrine  of  the  house 
of  Joseph,  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  in  order  to 
make  sure  of  the  help  of  God.  But  as  though 
Gqd  had  wished  to  give  his  people  an  impressive 
lesson  on  the  folly  of  such  reliance  upon  outward 
things,  this  second  battle  ended  with  a  more  ter- 
rible and  complete  defeat ;  thirty  thousand  Israel- 
ites covered  the  field  of  battle ;  the  sacred  ark 
itself  was  captured  by  the  heathen  victor.  With 
this,  the  power  of  Joseph  wras  broken.  The  Phi- 
listines burned  and  destroyed  the  temple  at  Shiloh, 
carried  the  captured  sacred  ark  to  the  temple  of 
their  chief  god,  Dagon,  and  subjected  the  land, 
even  to  the  Jordan  ;  the  people  were  disarmed 
and  held  in  check  by  Philistine  prefects  and  strong- 
holds. And  from  all  evidence  this  Philistine  dom- 
ination must  have  lasted  a  considerable  time. 
Israel  seemed  paralyzed,  and  submitted,  though 
with  gnashing  of  teeth.  After  all,  it  was  no  dis- 
grace to  have  succumbed  to  the  lion.  But  when,  in 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    55 

addition,  the  ass  came  to  give  a  kick  to  the  power- 
less people,  the  measure  was  full.  The  Ammon- 
ites renewed  the  attempt  which  Jephthah  had 
checked,  and  spread  out  as  conquerors  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Jordan.  They  laid  siege  to  the  city 
of  Jabesh-gilead  ;  the  inhabitants,  recognizing 
the  impossibility  of  resistance  offered  to  capitulate. 
But  the  Ammonite  king,  Nahash,  answered  them  : 
"On  this  condition  will  I  accept  a  capitulation 
from  you,  that  I  may  thrust  out  all  your  right 
eyes,  and  lay  it  for  a  reproach  upon  all  Israel." 
The  inhabitants  of  Jabesh  beg  for  seven  days'  time, 
during  which  they  propose  to  call  on  all  Israel  for 
help.  Scornfully  the  Ammonite  grants  them  the 
respite,  and  calmly  permits  the  messengers  to 
leave  the  beleaguered  city.  But  he  was  destined 
to  have  erred  in  his  reckoning.  %The  God  of  Sina^ 
had  not  forgotten  his  people ;  he  who  had  freed 
it  from  the  bondage  of  the  Egyptians  delivered  it 
now  from  the  Philistine  subjection.  Already  his 
spirit  had  touched  the  heart  of  the  hero  whom  he 
had  chosen  as  the  liberator  of  his  people ;  this 
liberator  is  still  following  the  plow  in  the  field  in- 
herited from  his  fathers,  but  humbly,  yet  confi- 
dently, he  bides  his  time.  Then,  when  the  call  for 
help  from  Jabesh  reaches  his  ear,  there  is  no 
delay  ;  the  districts  of  Israel  are  stirred  as  by  a 
spring  tempest ;  the  liberator,  the  king,  has  come. 


56    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  NATIONAL  KINGDOM. — SAUL  AND  DAVID. 

WE  have  seen  the  messengers  of  the  hard- 
pressed  city  of  Jabesh  go  out  through 
all  Israel ;  will  they  bring  help  ?  King  Nahash 
thinks  not,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  let  them 
go,  and  very  likely  they  themselves  have  little 
hc^)e  of  it ;  but  only  a  few  weeks  before,  in  an 
obscure  and  quiet  corner  of  the  mountain  region 
of  Ephraim,  had  occurred  an  event  which  was  to 
give  a  wholly  new  turn  to  the  destinies  of  Israel. 
At  Eamah  in  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim,  in 
the  district  of  Zuph — not  to  be  confused  with  the 
better-known  Eamah  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin 
near  Jerusalem — dwells  a  seer  already  high  in 
years,  Samuel  by  name,  highly  esteemed  among 
his  own  people,  but  otherwise  little  known  in 
Israel.  He  feels  Israel's  degradation  more  bitterly 
and  more  keenly  than  the  rest  of  the  people,  who 
had  already  submitted  with  dumb  indifference  to 
what  seemed  inevitable.  To  his  illumined  eye 
the  causes  of  the  national  misfortune  are  evident : 
the  lamentable  division  alone,  in  spite  of  all  the 
personal  bravery  of  individuals,  has  made  the 
people  the  almost  defenseless  prey  of  its  neigh- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.     57 

bors.  If  the  nation  is  not  to  succumb  utterly 
and  be  absorbed  gradually  by  its  oppressors  the 
only  remedy  is  the  union  of  the  divided  and  un- 
disciplined forces  in  one  strong  hand, — in  other 
words,  the  national  kingdom.  Among  the 
enemies  of  Israel  it  is  precisely  and  solely  this 
organization  and  centralization  due  to  the  king- 
dom which  guarantees  to  them  their  superiority 
in  the  field.  But  whence  shall  come  the  king 
who  with  strong  hand  will  shake  off  the  yoke  of 
foreign  rule  and  lead  the  people  to  victory  and 
freedom  ?  Full  of  pious  trust,  Samuel  lays  the 
question  before  the  faithful  God  who  has  always 
hitherto  sent  the  right  man  at  the  right  time. 

In  this  crisis  there  appears  before  him  one  day 
a  distinguished  Benjaminite  seeking  Samuel's 
prophetic  gift  for  an  event  of  daily  life  :  Saul 
son  of  Kish,  from  Gibeah  of  the  tribe  of  Ben- 
jamin. In  this  Gibeah  a  Philistine  prefect  held 
his  court.  This  is  significant.  With  this  visible 
evidence  of  the  bondage  of  his  people  constantly 
before  his  eyes,  Saul  could  not  but  feel  with 
especial  keenness  the  humiliation  of  his  people. 
Doubtless  he  bore  the  yoke  of  the  uncircumcised 
with  gnashing  of  teeth,  and  probably  looked  often 
in  silent  grief  for  a  rescuer  out  of  this  distress. 
But  with  the  childlike  guiletesness  of  a  generous 
and  unspoiled  heart  he  seems  to  have  no  presenti- 
ment of  the  powers  that  slumber  within  him. 
That  he  himself  might  be  destined  to  become  this 
ardently -longed- for  rescuer  from  distress,  is  a 


58    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

thought  that  does  not  enter  his  head.  Thus  un- 
conscious of  his  own  worth,  in  the  noble  adorn- 
ment of  modesty,  he  appears  before  Samuel.  The 
seer  is  struck  with  the  chivalrous  bearing  and 
the  majestic  appearance  of  this  Benjaminite 
who  towers  above  the  rest  of  the  people  by  a 
head  ;  when  he  catches  sight  of  him  an  inner 
voice  calls  to  him  :  This  is  the  man  for  whom 
thou  waitest  ;  God  himself  sends  him  to  thee. 
By  mysterious  remarks  he  cunningly  rouses  in 
Saul's  heart  thoughts  and  feelings  that  till  now 
had  slumbered  within  him.  A  sacrifice,  com- 
bined with  a  festal  meal,  to  which  Samuel  takes 
the  Benjaminite,  serves  to  give  to  the  developing 
thoughts  of  Saul  a  religious  consecration,  and  the 
honorable  distinction  with  which  Samuel  treats 
''•  him,  a  stranger,  at  this  solemn  ceremony,  arouses 
within  him  the  presentiment  of  great  things  that 
await  him. 

When  after  this  Samuel  takes  the  stranger  to 
his  own  house  as  a  guest,  where  a  familiar  con- 
versation loosens  his  tongue  and  reveals  the  in- 
nermost thoughts  of  his  heart,  Samuel  grows 
ever  more  certain  that  he  has  found  the  one 
whom  God  has  chosen  for  the  liberation  of  his 
people.  When  Saul  takes  leave  of  his  host  the 
following  morning  the  seer  anoints  his  head  with 
oil,  reveals  to  him  for  what  high  things  he  is 
destined,  and  bids  him  bide  his  time  and  then  do 
what  his  hand  may  find  to  do,  for  God  will  be 
with  him. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    59 

Saul  returns  to  his  home,  and  his  people  notice 
that  a  change  has  come  over  him — as  our  account 
says  briefly  and  significantly,  God  had  changed 
him  into  another  man  ;  but  quietly  as  before  he 
tills  his  field,  awaiting  the  moment  when  the 
spirit  of  God  shall  come  upon  him.  Now  the 
messengers  from  Jabesh  make  their  appearance 
also  in  Gibeah.  Everywhere  they  have  found 
tearful  sympathy,  but  no  hand  is  lifted  to  help. 
And  in  Gibeah  also  it  seemed  to  be  the  same. 
When  Saul  drives  home  his  yoke  of  oxen  from 
the  field  he  finds  the  whole  city  in  tears.  In 
reply  to  his  question  he  learns  of  the  insolent 
mockery  of  the  Ammonite.  He  flames  out  in 
sacred  wrath,  cuts  his  oxen  in  pieces  and  sends 
the  bloody  portions  all  about  with  the  message : 
"  Whosoever  cometh  not  forth  after  Saul,  sdk 
shall  it  be  done  unto  his  oxen."  His  enthusiasm 
has  its  effect ;  a  considerable  troop  gathers  around 
the  brave  leader,  the  enemy  are  surprised  in  the 
gray  of  morn  and  utterly  routed  ;  the  hard- 
pressed  city  of  Jabesh  is  saved. 

Now  the  scales  seem  to  fall  from  their  eyes : 
they  have  found  the  right  man  and  they  propose 
to  keep  him.  Eejoicing  in  the  first  victory  after 
long  subjugation  and  humiliation  the  people 
bring  to  Gilgal  in  triumph  the  one  to  whom  they 
owe  the  fresh  victory,  to  deck  him  in  this  ancient 
sacred  city  with  the  royal  diadem.  Now  Israel 
too  has  a  king,  like  all  the  nations  round  about. 
Will  the  new  king  accomplish  what  they  expect 


60    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

of  him  and  what  he  needs  must  accomplish  ?  Or 
was  the  ceremony  at  Gilgal  perhaps  too  hasty,  a 
mocking  air-phantom  of  the  overflowing  enthu- 
siasm of  the  moment  ? 

The  defeat  of  that  troop  of  Ammonite  skirmish- 
ers was  after  all  no  great  affair.  The  real  test 
of  power  for  the  new  kingdom  was  rather  whether 
it  would  succeed  in  breaking  the  domination  of 
the  Philistines.  It  had  been  possible,  indeed, 
to  attempt  a  peaceful  settlement  with  the  na- 
tional enemy.  Perhaps  the  Philistines  would 
have  recognized  Saul  as  a  feudal  king  or  Philis- 
tine vassal  if  he  had  submitted  to  their  authority 
as/ had  been  done  before.  But  this  was  an  im- 
possibility for  the  popular  king  who  had  just  been 
/raised  to  the  throne.  Only  the  sword  could 
x  arbitrate  now.  Therefore  Saul  keeps  about  him 
three  thousand  men  selected  from  the  exultant 
concourse  at  Gilgal,  waiting  to  see  what  attitude 
the  Philistines  would  assume  in  view  of  the  new 
turn  of  affairs.  But  the  whole  situation  de- 
manded a  settlement ;  both  sides  needed  a  decided 
clearing  away  of  uncertainties.  In  order  to  bring 
Israel  face  to  face  with  an  accomplished  fact 
which  should  shut  out  all  retreat,  Jonathan, 
Saul's  first-born  son,  the  most  ideal  and  purely 
heroic  figure  of  the  Old  Testament,  does  a  bold 
deed  and  slays  the  Philistine  prefect  at  Gibeah, 
and  Saul  has  the  trumpet  sounded  throughout 
all  Israel  and  the  fighting  men  summoned  to  join 
him  at  Gibeah. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    6l 

To  meet  this  open  outbreak  the  Philistines  march 
into  the  rebellious  district  with  a  strong  force, 
and  so  great  is  Israel's  fear  of  her  long-standing 
oppressors,  so  great  the  dread  of  this  victory- 
wonted  enemy  that  the  people  about  Saul  flee,  all 
save  six  hundred  men,  at  the  approach  of  the 
Philistine  army.  Again  it  is  Jonathan  who  takes 
the  lead  in  manful  action.  By  a  movement  ex- 
ecuted with  unparalleled  audacity  he  carries  dis- 
order into  the  Philistine  camp  :  Saul  takes  ad- 
vantage of  this  disorder  to  make  an  attack,  and 
after  a  hot  struggle  the  victory  is  his.  But  in 
the  ardor  of  pursuit  of  the  fleeing  enemy  he  issues 
an  imprudent  order  which  makes  it  impossible  to 
secure  the  full  benefit  of  the  victory.  His  glori-  \  i 
ous  son  Jonathan,  the  real  hero  of  this  memorable 
day,  came  near  falling  a  victim  to  his  father's  in- 
discretion,— and  thus  in  this  very  first  deed  of 
liberation  there  is  a  faint  shadow  which  settles 
upon  the  new  kingdom  as  an  omen  portentous  of 
misfortune. 

We  do  not  know  much  more  of  Saul's  reign. 
Saul's  first  measure  was  to  put  the  military  forces 
of  the  people  upon  a  war  footing ;  for  he  had 
enemies  all  about,  first  of  all,  the  Philistines. 
That  first  victory  at  Michmash  was  only  a  tran- 
sient achievement  which  had  scarcely  destroyed 
the  Philistine  tyranny ;  the  struggle  with  this 
ancestral  enemy,  conducted  with  fluctuating  for- 
tunes, constitutes  the  chief  part  of  Saul's  reign 
and  his  life.  He  owed  the  crown  to  his  sword 


62    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  had  to  maintain  it  by  the  sword  ;  his  whole 
reign  was  an  incessant  warfare.  In  such  a  con- 
dition of  affairs  the  need  of  a  standing  army  be- 
came evident ;  it  would  not  do  to  be  forced  in 
every  separate  case  to  summon  the  militia  of 
Israel.  And  so  Saul  kept  those  three  thousand 
men  about  his  person  and  strove  to  increase  the 
number  and  their  efficiency  :  wherever  he  saw  a 
brave  and  capable  man,  he  attached  him  to  him- 
self, he  himself  and  his  son  Jonathan  at  their  head, 
a  genuine  leader  of  his  men  and  supported  by  the 
enthusiastic  love  of  his  people.  So  much  the 
more  puzzling  and  incomprehensible  seems  the 
/tragic  turn  of  events  which  soon  ensued.  The 
oldest  account  gives  no  explanation  for  it  but 
J  simply  says  :  "An  evil  spirit  from  the  Lord 
troubled  him."  Plainly  we  have  to  do  here  with 
severe  derangements  of  mind  and  soul,  an  incu- 
rable melancholy  which  at  times  gave  way  to  fits 
of  madness.  And  if  we  examine  more  closely, 
we  shall  easily  find  the  psychological  reasons  for 
this. 

It  had  really  been  a  hasty  proceeding  when 
they  put  the  crown  upon  Saul's  head  in  Gilgal. 
Saul  was  not  equal  to  the  inner  difficulties  of  the 
situation.  If  he  had  been  introduced  into  settled 
conditions,  reared  upon  the  throne  in  possession 
of  an  inherited  and  established  power  he  would 
have  been,  with  his  noble  and  chivalrous  nature, 
one  of  the  best  kings  of  Israel :  but  here  every- 
thing had  first  to  be  created,  and  Saul  was  not 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    63 

equal  to  this  task  :  he  was  a  nobleman  and  cav- 
alier, but  here  was  needed  a  ruler  and  king.  His 
whole  character  has  a  cast  which  I  would  almost 
call  commonplace ;  the  original  and  sunny,  the 
winning  and  all-compelling  personality  that 
sways  men  by  moral  conquest,  this  he  lacked. 
And  this  is  just  what  he  needed  ;  for  the  office 
did  not  carry  the  man,  but  the  man  had  first  to 
create  the  office. 

It  was  no  easy  thing  for  the  Israelites  who  were 
accustomed  to  perfect  freedom  and  local  independ- 
ence to  renounce  these  congenial  and  familiar 
conditions  and  subordinate  themselves  to  a  single 
will.  When  there  was  combat  with  the  national 
enemy  involving  the  struggle  for  existence,  they 
followed  him  willingly  and  gladly  ;  but  to  feel 
themselves  members  of  a  commonwealth  even  in 
times  of  peace  and  to  abandon  perhaps  well- 
founded  personal  claims  in  the  interest  of  the 
state  and  public  order,  was  more  than  could  be 
expected  of  them,  and  the  people  had  to  be  ac- 
customed to  it  slowly  and  gradually.  In  fact,  it 
was  achieved  only  when  they  had  a  sense  of  do- 
ing, as  a  personal  favor  to  the  king,  whatever 
came  hard  to  them,  somewhat  as  a  child  on  first 
going  to  school  can  be  accustomed  and  reared  to 
the  discipline  of  the  school  only  when  he  does  all 
that  is  asked  of  him  with  the  joyous  feeling  of 
showing  the  teacher  a  personal  kindness.  And 
to  awaken  this  feeling  in  Israel  Saul  was  not  the 
man.  Of  decidedly  choleric  temperament,  bold 


64    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  energetic,  but  at  the  same  time  abrupt  and 
inconsiderate,  it  was  not  natural  for  him  to  sue 
for  love  ;  indeed,  he  had  no  compunctions  about 
offending  Israel  in  its  most  sacred  feelings  when 
state  policy,  as  we  would  express  it  to-day,  seemed 
to  call  for  it. 

Israel  had  a  solemn  league  and  covenant  with 
the  Gibeonites,  a  Canaanitish  alliance  of  four 
cities.  We  can  understand  that  Saul  felt  it  as  a 
severe  restraint  to  have  an  enclave  of  alien  people 
dwelling  a  few  miles  from  the  gates  of  his  capi- 
tal. In  his  zeal  for  Israel,  as  the  report  says,  he 
attacked  the  Gibeonites  and  undertook  to  defeat 
them.  Furthermore,  it  became  a  necessity  to  re- 
duce the  predatory  and  dangerous  people  of  the 
desert,  the  Amalekites.  The  solemn  curse  was 
pronounced  against  them,  and  Saul  marched 
against  them  and  conquered  them,  but  considered 
it  more  expedient  not  to  execute  the  curse,  and 
spared  the  captive  king  and  the  best  part  of  the 
booty.  This  could  not  but  seem  a  great  sin  to 
the  religious  consciousness  of  that  time,  being  a 
breach  of  promise  and  perjury  toward  God  him- 
self, and  robbery  or  at  least  embezzlement  of 
God's  property.  So  even  Samuel  lost  faith  in 
the  man  of  his  choice,  and  in  deep  grief  aban- 
doned him  to  whom,  as  king,  law  and  right  ought 
to  have  been  inviolable  and  sacred. 

When  we  realize  further  that  even  in  the  war 
with  the  Philistines  there  were  no  great  and  de- 
cisive victories,  and  that  the  enthusiastic  uprising 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    65 

finally  ended  in  a  spiritless  and  wearisome  guer- 
rilla warfare,  we  can  understand  the  change  in 
public  sentiment  and  understand,  too,  how  Saul 
himself  was  forced  to  recognize  that  he  was  not 
equal  to  his  position  and  was  not  accomplishing 
what  was  expected  of  him  and  what  he  ought  to 
accomplish.  Now,  for  a  noble  man  striving  only 
for  the  best  with  honest  purpose  and  consecrated 
zeal,  there  is  no  more  terrible  spiritual  torment 
than  the  consciousness  of  his  own  insufficiency  ; 
Saul's  strong  and  yet  sensitive  nature  succumbed 
to  this  infernal  assault,  and  darkness  settled  upon 
his  great  soul. 

When  I  contemplate  this  picture  that  so  moves 
the  depths  of  the  heart,  I  am  always  impressed 
with  the  parallel  in  the  figure  of  that  most  unf  or-, 
tunate  of  rulers  on  the  Prussian  throne,  person- 
ally perhaps  the  most  gifted  of  all,  the  son  and 
counterfeit  of  an  incomparable  mother,  and  richly 
endowed  with  all  advantages  of  mind  and  soul, 
who  was  welcomed  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign 
with  rejoicings  and  enthusiasm  beyond  what  any 
Hohenzoller  had  ever  received,  and  yet  ended  at 
last  alone  and  forsaken  in  the  night  of  insanity, 
because  a  pitiless  destiny  had  placed  him  in  a 
position  and  before  tasks  to  which  his  empyreal 
nature  was  not  equal.1 

It  is  a  touching  proof  of  the  genuine  and  grate- 
ful love  bestowed  upon  Saul  that  Israel  remained 

1  Frederick  William  IV.,  son  of  Queen  Louise,  and  brother 
of  Emperor  William  I. 


66    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

faithful  to  him  in  his  misfortunes,  and  that  no  one 
undertook  to  remove  him  from  the  throne,  not 
even  after  he  had  actually  become  a  danger  to 
his  people.  On  the  contrary,  they  did  everything 
possible  to  subdue  the  evil  spirit.  The  magic 
power  of  music  was  invoked  to  dispel  the  melan- 
choly of  the  unhappy  king.  Some  one  in  Saul's 
retinue  knows  a  man  especially  talented  in  sing- 
ing, and  at  the  same  time  of  tried  valor,  knight 
and  troubadour  in  one,  the  Judean  David  of  Beth- 
lehem. David  is  summoned  to  court  and  obeys 
the  summons.  Thus  enters  upon  the  scene  the 
man,  who  after  Moses,  is  the  greatest  personage 
of  ancient  Israel,  and  for  whom  it  was  reserved 
to  Complete  the  work  of  Moses. 

David  is  one  of  those  divinely  favored,  sunny 
(natures  whom  all  hearts  acknowledge,  the  born 
ruler  whom  all  willingly  and  gladly  acknowledge 
and  serve.  Distinguished  by  all  the  advantages 
of  mind  and  body,  radiant  with  youth,  beauty  and 
power,  compelling  all  hearts  to  love  by  his  fasci- 
nating amiability,  thus  he  appears  before  the  king. 
At  first  all  went  well.  Even  Saul  could  not 
withstand  the  charm  of  this  personality  ;  he  made 
the  young  man,  who  soon  became  indispensable 
to  him,  his  armor-bearer,  what  we  would  call  his 
personal  adjutant.  The  chivalrous  Jonathan  re- 
cognizes in  the  chivalrous  Judean  an  affinity,  and 
the  two  hearts  are  united  in  a  most  devoted, 
fraternal  league  of  pure  and  generous  friendship, 
while  the  king's  daughter  Michal  also  is  inflamed 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.          6/ 

with  ardent  love  for  her  brother's  bosom  friend 
and  her  father's  favorite,  and  Saul,  for  whom  it 
was  a  matter  of  great  concern  to  keep  such  a 
hero  near  him,  gives  him  his  daughter  to  wife. 

But  soon  the  evil  spirit  began  its  fiendish  work 
even  here.  It  is  not  clear  what  aroused  the  wrath 
of  the  suspicious  king.  According  to  one  account 
it  was  jealousy  of  David's  warlike  deeds  and  suc- 
cess. True,  it  was  necessary  in  those  days  that 
the  king  should  be  at  the  same  time  the  chief  in 
bravery,  but  there  was  his  glorious  son  Jonathan, 
who  at  least  equaled  David  in  military  fame. 
According  to  another  account  he  sees  in  David  a 
pretendant  to  the  crown,  a  possible  rival  in  the 
dominion  over  Israel.  This  account  owes  its  ori- 
gin wholly  to  the  fact  that  David  actually  did  be\ 
come  his  successor  ;  but  it  is  wholly  improbable  V 
that  at  that  time  anybody,  even  David  himself, 
should  have  thought  of  such  a  thing  ;  when  Saul 
resigned  the  crown  it  would  simply  descend  to 
Jonathan,  and  the  most  that  David  could  have 
expected  would  be  to  become  perhaps  grand-vizier 
of  his  friend  and  brother-in-law.  On  the  other 
hand  the  oldest  account  offers  us  what  seems  to 
be  the  first  credible  and  plausible  clue  :  here  Saul 
suspects  that  David  had  entered  with  Jonathan 
into  a  conspiracy  against  him,  a  plan  to  depose 
him  and  put  Jonathan  in  his  place. 

David  cannot  have  failed  to  see  that  such  a 
change  of  rulers  would  be  a  real  blessing  for 
Israel  in  the  condition  of  the  people  at  that  time, 


68    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  many  a  good  patriot  may  have  thought  the 
same.  Whether  David  some  time  uttered  an  in- 
cautious expression  to  this  effect,  or  whether  the 
suspicious  king  imagined  this  thought  in  the  heart 
of  his  son-in-law, — at  all  events,  in  an  attack  of 
his  malady  he  threw  a  spear  at  him,  and  David 
fled.  The  priests  at  Nob,  who  had  innocently 
aided  the  fugitive,  were  overtaken  by  a  fearful 
judgment :  they  were  summoned  before  the  king's 
tribunal  and  executed  as  traitors,  and  their  city 
and  sanctuary  destroyed  ;  only  one,  Ebiathar  by 
name,  escaped  and  fled  to  David. 

Meanwhile  David  had  fled  to  his  home  in  Judah, 
and  had  there  gathered  about  him  a  band  of 
desperate  men,  four  hundred  rash  and  reckless 
fellows,  whose  leader  he  became.  He  is  often  rep- 
resented as  a  regular  robber  chief,  before  whom 
ho  man  was  sure  of  his  life,  no  woman  of  her 
honor  ;  and  there  is  some  support  for  such  a  view 
in  the  familiar  story  of  David's  relations  with  the 
rich  Nabal  and  his  prudent  wife,  the  fair  Abigail. 
But  such  stories  must  be  judged  from  the  oriental 
point  of  view.  To  this  day  any  Arab  would  shoot 
down  on  the  spot  like  a  mad  dog  a  man  refusing 
his  hospitality  in  such  an  insolent  and  offensive 
way  as  Nabal  does  David's.  No,  we  have  rather 
to  picture  him  to  ourselves  like  the  knights-errant 
who  go  out  seeking  adventures  and  are  always 
ready  to  draw  their  swords  where  there  is  need. 
For  instance,  David  is  informed  that  the  city  of 
Keilah  is  hard  beset  by  the  Philistines  ;  his  people 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF   ISRAEL.          69 

remonstrate  with  him,  saying  :  "  We  are  scarcely 
sure  of  our  lives  in  Judah,  and  shall  we  now 
begin  a  feud  with  the  Philistines ! "  But  David 
undertakes  the  foray  and  rescues  the  city.  On  this 
occasion,  however,  and  in  general  we  see  that  the 
members  of  his  tribe  are  rather  in  sympathy  with 
Saul  and  regard  David  and  his  band  with  evident 
distrust. 

Despite  the  critical  condition  of  his  kingdom, 
Saul  did  not  shrink  from  civil  war,  but  led  his 
standing  army  against  David  and  his  men.  David 
succeeded,  indeed,  in  evading  him,  but  finally  the 
soil  of  Judah  became  too  warm  for  him  and  there 
remained  nothing  for  him  but  to  take  refuge 
with  the  enemy  :  he  became  the  vassal  of  the 
Philistine  king,  Achish  of  Gath,  who  received 
him  with  open  arms  and  gave  him  the  city  6f 
Ziklag  as  residence.  Even  here  he  was  helpfur 
to  his  people  and  fought  their  enemies  while  pre- 
tending to  Achish  that  he  was  fighting  with 
Judah  and  Israel,  and  in  order  to  keep  the  matter 
secret  he  took  no  prisoners.  Achish,  too,  was 
completely  fascinated  by  him  and  trusted  him 
blindly. 

When  David  had  dwelt  a  year  and  four  months 
in  Ziklag,  destiny  overtook  Saul.  The  Philistines 
prepared  for  a  decisive  campaign  against  Israel, 
and  David  was  expected  to  join  the  army  of 
Achish.  How  David  would  have  acted  if  the 
Philistines  had  insisted  on  the  fulfilment  of  his 
feudal  obligations  we  cannot  say,  but  the  other 


70          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

Philistine  kings  did  not  trust  David  and  protested 
against  such  an  ally.  David  probably  never 
thanked  his  God  more  ardently  than  when  he 
was  thus  sent  home.  Saul  with  his  troops  was 
stationed  on  Mount  Gilboa,  and  the  battle  ended 
in  his  total  defeat.  When  he  saw  all  lost  and  his 
three  sons  fallen,  in  despair  he  fell  upon  his  own 
sword.  The  Philistines  cut  off  the  head  of  the 
corpse  and  sent  it,  together  with  the  armor  of  the 
fallen  king,  to  the  temple  of  Astarte  ;  the  head- 
less body  and  the  corpses  of  his  three  sons  they 
hung  upon  the  walls  of  Beth-shan,  the  nearest 
considerable  city.  But  now  the  men  of  Jabesh, 
whicty  Saul  had  once  rescued  from  utmost  need, 
remembered  their  debt ;  they  took  down  the  bodies 
from  the  walls  by  night  and  carried  them  across 
tlie  Jordan  to  Jabesh,  where  they  gave  them  hon- 
orable burial  and  mourned  them  for  seven  days. 

Saul  is  one  of  the  most  tragic  figures  in  history. 
A  great  and  nobly  endowed  nature,  heroic  and 
chivalrous,  inspired  with  fiery  zeal,  he  finally  ac- 
complished nothing  ;  the  dream  of  Gilgal  proved 
a  cruel  illusion ;  the  man  of  the  people,  whose 
very  name  signifies  "the  desired"  and  in  whom 
the  longing  of  Israel  seemed  embodied,  had  been 
a  will-o'-the-wisp.  At  his  death  the  situation  was 
again  just  what  it  had  been  at  his  coronation  : 
Israel  prostrate,  the  power  of  the  Philistines 
greater  and  firmer  than  ever  before.  He  had  not 
shown  himself  equal  to  the  task  which  destiny 
and  circumstances  had  set  for  him. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.          /I 

And  I  would  call  attention  to  one  more  point : 
he  lacked  appreciation  of  the  true  character  of 
Israel ;  in  this  regard  tradition  has  given  a  wholly 
correct  picture  of  him.  He  was  exclusively  a 
soldier,  and  was  in  a  fair  way  to  change  Israel 
into  a  secular  military  state  and  thus  divert  it 
from  its  religious  function  in  universal  history. 
Saul  may  claim  our  deepest  compassion  and  our 
heartiest  sympathy,  but  the  fall  of  his  power  was 
a  blessing  for  Israel.  We  have  no  direct  infor- 
mation as  to  the  length  of  his  reign  ;  from  such 
sources  as  we  can  command  it  did  not  last  long. 
Five  years  is  the  least  that  we  are  obliged  to  esti- 
mate, but  ten  is  the  utmost  possible.  According 
to  the  most  probable  estimate  of  dates,  based  on 
the  very  accurate  Assyrian  chronology,  Saul's 
death  would  fall  in  the  year  1017 ;  this  will  toot 
deviate  more  than  a  few  years  at  the  utmost  from 
the  actual  date. 

But  Saul's  blood  was  not  to  flow  on  Mount 
Gilboa  unavenged  ;  an  avenger  and  the  real 
finisher  of  his  life-work  arose  in  the  Judean  whom 
he  had  fought  and  persecuted.  For  a  while,  it  is 
true,  David  had  to  remain  inactive.  It  would 
have  been  madness  to  begin  the  contest  against 
the  Philistines  with  his  six  hundred  men  ;  he  took 
care  first  to  save  what  he  could,  and  was  an- 
nointed  tribal  king  of  Judah  under  Philistine 
suzerainty,  and  took  up  his  residence  as  such  at 
Hebron.  It  seems  that  Saul  had  left  a  single, 
minor  son,  named  Ish-bosheth  (or  Eshbaal) ; 


72    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

Abner,  Saul's  cousin  and  commander-in-chief, 
took  up  his  cause  and  established  for  him  out  of 
the  ruins  of  Saul?s  dominion  a  kingdom  at  Ma- 
hanaim  in  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan,  in  all 
probably  under  Philistine  suzerainty  also,  while 
the  whole  territory  west  of  the  Jordan  reverted 
to  the  Philistines.  We  know  scarcely  anything 
about  the  period  immediately  following:  it  is 
evident  that  they  did  not  like  to  recall  it  in  later 
times.  When  Abner  had  in  some  measure  es- 
tablished himself,  he  attempted  to  subject  David 
and  Judah  also  to  the  dominion  of  Ish-bosheth  : 
a  battle  was  fought  at  Gibeon,  but  the  Judeans 
undep  the  lead  of  David's  nephew  and  general, 
Joab,  won  a  complete  victory,  and  Abner  fled  with 
ttye  remnants  of  his  army  across  the  Jordan. 

Soon,  however,  dissension  arose  between  Abner 
and  Ish-bosheth.  Saul  had  left  a  concubine  named 
Kizpah,  and  Abner  took  her.  Ish-bosheth  could  see 
in  this  nothing  but  a  design  against  his  dominion, 
and  called  Abner  passionately  to  account,  where- 
upon the  latter  renounced  allegiance  to  his  ward 
and  went  over  to  David.  He  had  probably  rec- 
ognized for  some  time  that  there  was  no  prospect 
under  existing  circumstances  that  Ish-bosheth's 
reign  could  last  long.  David  then  demanded  back 
Saul's  daughter,  Michal,  whom  after  David's  flight 
Saul  had  given  in  marriage  to  a  noble  of  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin.  Abner  himself  brought  her  to 
Hebron  and  was  splendidly  entertained  by  David. 
He  went  away  with  a  promise  to  win  all  Israel  over 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    73 

to  David.  Thereupon  Joab  hastens  after  him  and 
stabs  him  on  the  pretext  of  revenge  for  blood. 

Joab  is  the  most  remarkable  figure  among 
David's  followers, — the  man  to  whom  he  owes 
most.  He  has  something  terrible  but  at  the  same 
time  grand  about  him,  and  reminds  me  vividly  of 
one  of  the  most  characteristic  personages  of  our 
German  legends,  the  fierce  Hagen  of  Tronje.  Like 
Hagen,  Joab  is  dominated  and  impelled  by  one 
single  feeling,  that  of  absolute  fidelity  to  his 
master.  Whatever  is  for  the  interest  of  his  master 
he  does,  even  if  it  should  be  a  crime  ;  for  the  crime 
he  himself  takes  the  responsibility  in  order  that  his 
master  may  reap  the  benefit.  Abner  was  in  fact, 
a  questionable  friend  who  was  liable  to  become 
inconvenient  and  even  dangerous,  and  his  death 
was  a  desirable  thing  for  David,  although  the 
latter  denied,  and  very  justly,  all  responsibility  for 
the  deed ;  that  he  knew  about  it,  or  instigated  it,  is 
wholly  out  of  the  question,  for  that  would  have 
been,  to  use  the  familiar  and  shocking  mot  of 
Talleyrand,  more  than  a  crime,  it  would  have  been 
a  blunder. 

Soon  after,  Ish-bosheth,  too,  fell  a  victim  to  blood 
vengeance :  he  was  assassinated  by  two  Gibeonites. 
The  murderers  cut  off  his  head  and  brought  it  to 
David  thinking  to  win  a  reward  ;  but  David  had 
them  cut  down  by  his  guards  and  the  head  of  Ish- 
bosheth  deposited  in  Abner's  tomb.  Thus  ended 
the  son  of  Saul  after  a  reign  of  seven  and  a  half 
years. 


74          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

There  were  still  left  two  sons  of  Saul  by  the  con- 
cubine Bizpah,  but  no  one  thought  of  them.  The 
situation  was  such  that  experiments  could  not  be 
risked,  and  David  was  the  only  one  who  could  be 
regarded  as  equal  to  it.  And  so  the  voice  of  the 
people  called  him  to  the  throne :  the  elders  of  the 
districts  hitherto  ruled  by  Ish-bosheth  came  to 
Hebron  to  offer  the  crown  to  David,  and  the  terms 
of  his  regency  were  accepted  by  him  with  a  solemn 
oath.  Now  the  Philistines  began  to  suspect  their 
late  vassal,  and  they  attempted  to  destroy  the 
kingdom  of  David  in  the  bud.  But  the  under- 
taking 011  which  Saul  had  made  shipwreck  was 
accomplished  by  David  and  accomplished  to  last. 
In  what  were  evidently  long  continued  and  bitter 
contests,  from  which  tradition  gives  us  a  number 
of  exciting  episodes  and  individual  deeds  of  hero- 
ism, he  succeeded  in  breaking  forever  the  Philis- 
tine dominion.  He  destroyed  all  their  relish  for 
returning  to  the  attack  in  his  realm,  but  disturbed 
them  no  more  in  their  own.  He  did  not  take  from 
them  a  single  foot  of  their  land  or  a  stone  of  their 
fortresses,  and  thus  by  his  wise  moderation  paved 
the  way  for  a  peaceable  footing  of  arbitration  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  which  fortunately  for 
Judah  remained  permanent. 

While  David  thus  had  his  hands  full  with  the 
Philistine  wars,  the  Moabites  appear  to  have  fallen 
upon  his  rear  ;  they,  too,  are  beaten  and  severely 
chastised,  and  joined  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel  as 
a  tributary  province.  During  the  Philistine  wars, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    75 

perhaps,  or  in  any  event  directly  after  the  close  of 
them,  David  took  a  step  which  gives  shining 
evidence  of  his  statesmanship.  As  king  of  all 
Israel  he  could  not  continue  to  reside  at  Hebron 
in  the  extreme  south  of  the  country.  Only  about 
six  miles  north  of  his  native  place,  Bethlehem,  lies 
Jerusalem,  at  that  time  still  in  possession  of  the 
Canaanite  tribe  of  the  Jebusites.  The  almost  im- 
pregnable location  of  this  city  could  not  fail  to 
strike  a  man  of  David's  military  insight ;  he 
selected  it  for  the  capital  of  his  new  kingdom  ;  he 
conquered  it  but  did  the  Jebusites  no  harm,  and 
thus  made  sure  from  the  start  of  an  element  of 
grateful  and  devoted  citizens.  Jerusalem  is  situ- 
ated pretty  near  the  central  point  of  the  entire 
country,  and  belonging  to  none  of  the  tribes  it  ^ 
stood  on  neutral  ground  above  them  and  their 
rivalries.  When  it  is  called  the  City  of  David  this 
is  no  mere  phrase,  for  Jerusalem  is  altogether  the 
creation  of  David ;  and  when  we  consider  what 
Jerusalem  was  to  the  people  of  Israel,  and  through 
the  people  of  Israel  to  all  mankind,  we  shall  recog- 
nize in  the  foundation  of  this  City  of  David  an 
event  of  world -wide  importance. 

In  characteristic  contrast  to  this,  Saul,  even 
when  he  was  king,  continued  to  reside  quietly  in 
his  native  village.  And  another  characteristic 
contrast  between  the  two  kings  forces  itself  here 
upon  our  attention.  David  immediately  set 
about  securing  in  the  political  center  of  his  king- 
dom an  ideal  center  of  interest.  The  ancient 


76    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

popular  shrine,  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  had  once 
been  captured  by  the  Philistines  and  then  given 
back  ;  Saul  had  let  it  run  down  without  concern- 
ing himself  about  it.  David  made  it  one  of  his 
first  concerns  to  bring  it  from  the  out-of-the-way 
country  town  to  which  it  had  been  taken,  to  his 
new  national  capital.  In  a  great  popular  cele- 
bration in  which  the  king  himself  officiated  as  a 
leading  performer,  the  shrine  was  brought  to 
Jerusalem,  and  thus  the  God  of  Israel  himself 
made  his  entrance.  If  anything  in  the  Psalms 
was  really  composed  by  David,  it  is  the  words  of 
the  twenty- fourth  Psalm,  which  may  very  well 
have  been  sung  on  the  occasion  of  that  great 
celebration : 

"  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ; 
And  be  ye  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors  ; 
And  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 
Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ? 
The  Lord  strong  and  mighty, 
The  Lord  mighty  in  battle." 

That  the  Lord  was  mighty  in  battle  David  was 
soon  to  experience.  Nahash,  the  king  of  the 
Ammonites,  Saul's  old  opponent,  died,  and  David 
sent  an  embassy  of  condolence  to  his  son  and 
successor  Hanun.  But  Hanun  took  the  messen- 
gers for  spies  and  sent  them  back  to  their  master 
covered  with  insults.  Hereupon  the  Ammonites 
united  with  the  Aramaeans,  Israel's  neighbors  on 
the  north  border,  who  probably  were  also  some- 
what uneasy  at  the  sight  of  Israel's  ambitious 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    // 

growth.  At  the  Ammonite  capital  a  battle  was 
fought  :  while  Abishai,  Joab's  brother,  held  the 
Ammonites  in  check,  Joab  beat  the  Aramaeans  in 
a  decisive  combat  and  the  campaign  was  won. 
But  now  the  Aramaeans  called  other  allies  into 
the  field.  David  took  the  command  himself, 
and  there  was  a  decisive  battle  fought  at  a  place 
called  Helam,  the  location  of  which  we  do  not 
know  ;  the  Aramaeans  received  a  still  more  crush- 
ing defeat,  and  the  hostile  leader  was  among  the 
slain.  David  captured  rich  booty,  and  the  region 
about  Damascus  was  added  to  his  realm  as  a 
tributary  province.  And  thus,  too,  the  northern 
border  was  made  secure. 

But  while  David  was  thus  occupied  in  the  ex- 
treme north,  the  Edomites  invaded  the  land  from\ 
the  south.  Joab  proceeded  against  them  in 
forced  marches,  and  beside  the  Dead  Sea  they 
were  beaten  and  fearfully  punished  ;  their  land 
too  became  a  tributary  province.  After  a  long 
siege  the  capital  of  the  Ammonites  fell  also  ;  but 
in  this  case  David  exercised  leniency  and  only 
required  certain  public  labors  of  them,  indeed  he 
even  seems  to  have  permitted  the  native  dynasty 
to  continue,  of  course  as  vassals  of  Israel. 

Thus  under  the  lead  of  David,  Israel  had  be- 
come in  a  few  years  the  dominant  race,  the  most 
important  nation  between  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Nile,  and  it  deserves  to  be  once  more  emphati- 
cally pointed  out  in  closing  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject that  it  cannot  be  proved  or  even  claimed  with 


78    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

plausibility  that  David  began  a  single  one  of 
these  wars  :  only  to  ward  off  unwarranted  attacks 
and  for  the  defense  of  the  most  vital  interests  of 
his  people  did  David  draw  the  sword,  but  when 
he  did,  it  was  with  might  and  as  in  a  war  of  God. 
The  close  of  his  life  might  have  been  full  of  light 
and  of  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  power  he  had 
acquired,  but  at  the  height  of  his  renown  and 
his  career  David  incurred  a  heavy  guilt,  and  this 
guilt  went  on  bearing  evil  deeds  ;  thus  a  series  of 
trials  was  prepared  for  him  which  plunged  him 
into  the  depths  of  woe. 

While  his  troops  were  in  the  field  against  the 
Ammonites  he  was  smitten  with  a  sinful  passion 
for  Bath-sheba,  the  wife  of  one  of  his  officers  ; 
he  had  the  officer  put  out  of  the  way  and  took  the 
^ornan.  If  we  look  into  the  whole  wretched 
Affair  without  prejudice,  we  must  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  blame  was  just  as  great  on 
the  woman's  part,  if  not  greater.  Few  kings, 
indeed,  would  have  made  such  frank  confession 
of  the  sin  as  David  did,  and  we  get  the  impression 
that  of  all  his  numerous  wives  this  demoniac 
woman  was  the  only  one  whom  he  really  and 
deeply  loved. 

Thus  David  had  sinned  against  the  sanctity  of 
the  family,  and  the  heaviest  retribution  was  to 
come  upon  him  from  his  own  family.  His  eldest 
son,  Amnon,  is  enamored  of  his  fair  step-sister, 
Thamar,  and  accomplishes  his  shameful  purpose 
by  cunning  and  force.  Very  likely  he  thought  : 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    79 

If  my  father  has  done  such  things,  I  need  not 
restrain  myself.  In  fact  David  does  not  venture, 
probably  in  view  of  his  own  guilt,  to  punish  his 
wicked  son  ;  but  two  years  after,  Amnon  is 
murdered  by  Absalom,  the  full  brother  of  the 
ravished  Thamar.  Now  Absalom  has  to  flee,  but 
the  king  longs  for  this  son,  who  after  the  death 
of  Amnon  was  the  successor  to  the  throne,  and 
who  had  slain  in  Amnon  rather  the  crown  prince 
than  the  violator  of  his  sister.  Joab  sees  through 
the  situation  and  manages  to  procure  for  Absalom 
permission  to  return  ;  but  he  is  still  banished 
from  his  father's  presence  and  is  not  allowed  to 
come  to  court.  This  was  extremely  unwise,  and 
could  not  but  embitter  the  son.  Two  years 
passed  thus,  and  again  Joab  acted  as  intercessor, 
and  Absalom  was  restored  to  favor  and  now  ap-\ 
peared  as  officially  recognized  crown-prince. 

But  Absalom's  ambition  was  not  satisfied  with 
this.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  many  elements, 
and  these  not  the  worst,  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  new  conditions  and  saw  with  deep  regret  the 
former  simplicity  and  informality  giving  way  be- 
fore the  pomp  and  splendor  of  the  new  monarchy. 
Absalom  took  advantage  of  this  sentiment  and 
even  cultivated  it.  The  description  of  the  mal- 
content crown-prince  and  the  way  in  which  he 
wins  popularity  and  steals  the  hearts  of  his  fa- 
ther's people  is  nothing  less  than  classic.  When 
he  thought  the  time  had  come  he  procured  leave 
of  absence  to  go  to  Hebron,  and  there  the  insur- 


80          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

rection  broke  out ;  Absalom  was  proclaimed  king 
and  marched  with  his  Judean  supporters  directly 
upon  Jerusalem. 

That  the  insurrection  broke  out  in  David's  first 
capital,  Hebron,  and  in  his  own  tribe  of  Judah, 
is  significant  and  highly  complimentary  to  David  : 
the  Judeans  evidently  felt  offended  and  slighted 
because  David  did  not  favor  them,  and  because 
as  king  of  all  Israel  he  no  longer  would  or  could 
be  tribal  king  of  Judah.  David  was  taken  so 
completely  by  surprise  that  he  barely  managed  to 
escape ;  he  fled  across  the  Jordan,  but  did  not 
neglect  to  provide  for  representation  of  his  inter- 
ests in  Jerusalem.  And  the  cunning  Hushai  ac- 
tually succeeded  in  detaining  Absalom  from  an 
immediate  pursuit  of  his  father  and  in  persuading 
<him  to  a  fatal  delay.  The  militia  of  all  Israel 
was  first  summoned  and  then  Absalom  crossed 
the  Jordan. 

Meanwhile  David  had  found  time  to  gather 
about  him  his  old  and  tried  guards  ;  under  the 
leadership  of  Joab  these  easily  scattered  Absalom's 
rabble  hosts  and  Absalom  himself,  contrary  to 
David's  express  command,  was  slain  by  Joab's 
own  hand.  The  scene  that  follows,  David  break- 
ing out  into  bitter  lamentations  over  the  death  of 
his  still  loved  son  and  taking  no  pleasure  in  his 
victory,  is  familiar  to  all  ;  Joab  is  obliged  to  re- 
mind him  by  a  frank  admonition  of  his  duty  as 
king,  but  the  king  takes  the  death  of  his  son  so 
to  heart  that  he  dismisses  Joab  and  puts  in  his 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    8l 

place  Absalom's  general,  Amasa.  Now  there  was 
nothing  to  interfere  with  his  return  to  Jerusalem, 
but  in  the  spiritual  anguish  of  these  days  and 
weeks  he  had  lost  his  old  discretion  and  wisdom. 
It  may  well  have  cut  him  deeply  that  his  Judeans 
had  been  the  first  to  desert  him,  and  accordingly 
he  persuaded  them  now  to  come  alone  and  fetch 
him  back  to  Jerusalem.  This  was  done.  But 
when  the  forces  of  the  northern  tribes  came  to  the 
Jordan  and  saw  how  things  stood,  dissension  and 
strife  arose,  which  finally  became  so  bitter  that  a 
Benjaminite  named  Sheba  blew  the  trumpet  and 
cried  :  "  We  have  no  portion  in  David,  neither  have 
we  inheritance  in  the  son  of  Jesse.  To  thy  tents, 
Israel !  "  And  all  Israel  actually  followed  Sheba, 
and  David  was  left  alone  with  his  Judeans.  He 
immediately  gave  orders  to  his  newly-appointed  ^ 
general,  Amasa,  to  get  the  army  ready  to  march  \ 
but  when  Amasa  proved  unable  to  execute  the 
order  he  turned  again  to  the  tried  and  trusty  Joab, 
and  as  though  nothing  had  happened  meanwhile, 
Joab  did  his  duty  with  inflexible  fidelity.  He  cut 
down  his  incapable  successor,  and  the  old  and  in- 
vincible warriors  gathered  enthusiastically  about 
his  standard.  The  rebels  were  promptly  dispersed 
and  driven  into  the  extreme  north  of  the  country  ; 
Sheba  took  refuge  in  the  city  of  Abel-Beth- 
maacah,  and  as  Joab  was  preparing  to  besiege  the 
city  the  inhabitants  threw  out  over  the  wall  to  him 
the  head  of  the  rebel. 
With  this  achievement  David's  kingdom  was 


82    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

saved,  and  the  evening  of  his  life  seems  to  have 
been  passed  in  undisturbed  repose.  He  reigned 
forty  years  in  all ;  seven  and  a  half  years  as  tribal 
king  of  Judah  at  Hebron,  and  thirty-three  years 
as  national  king  of  Israel  in  Jerusalem.  When 
he  reached  the  age  of  seventy  the  infirmities  of 
age  made  themselves  felt ;  he  seems  to  have  be- 
come quite  torpid,  a  plaything  without  will  in  the 
hands  of  his  followers,  particularly  of  Bath-sheba, 
who  entirely  controlled  him.  Adonijah,  the  eld- 
est son  after  the  death  of  Absalom,  was  generally 
regarded  as  the  successor  to  the  throne,  and 
David's  old  companions,  Joab  and  Abiathar,  were 
on  his  side,  while  Bath-sheba,  supported  by  cer- 
tain ambitious  men  who  hoped  thus  to  open  a 
future  for  themselves,  tried  to  divert  the  succes- 
sion to  her  son  Solomon,  the  youngest  of  David's 
sons. 

Be  it  that  Adonijah  could  not  wait  for  the  death 
of  his  father,  or  that  he  merely  incurred  the  ap- 
pearance of  so  doing, — under  pressure  of  the  re- 
port that  Adonijah  had  caused  himself  to  be  pro- 
claimed king  and  homage  to  be  paid  him,  Bath- 
sheba  managed  to  have  Solomon  formally  recog- 
nized by  the  dying  king  and  introduced  to  the 
people  as  his  successor.  As  Benaiah,  the  captain 
of  the  guard,  who  wished  to  succeed  Joab  as 
general  and  actually  did  succeed  him,  was  for 
Solomon  and  Bath-sheba  and  they  thus  had  the 
whole  military  force  at  their  disposal,  all  resist- 
ance was  in  vain  and  the  outwitted  opponents 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.          83 

were  constrained  to  make  their  peace  with  the 
newly  appointed  youthful  king.  Adonijah  and 
Joab  did  not  long  survive  the  defeat  of  their 
hopes  and  died  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner  ; 
the  priest  Abiathar  was  merely  deposed  and  ban- 
ished. 

David  must  have  died  soon  after  this  settlement 
of  the  succession.  He  is  the  most  luminous 
figure  and  the  most  gifted  personage  in  Israelit- 
ish  history,  surpassed  in  ethical  greatness  and  gen- 
eral historical  importance  only  by  Moses,  the  man 
of  God.  It  is  not  possible  to  overestimate  what 
David  did  for  Israel  :  Israel  as  a  people,  as  a  rep- 
resentative of  political  life,  as  a  concrete  quantity 
in  the  development  of  universal  history,  as  a  na- 
tion in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  is  exclusively 
his  work.  With  this  he  completed  what  Mose 
had  begun  in  quiet  and  inconspicuous  labors  on 
Sinai  and  at  Kadesh.  And  all  of  this  David  cre- 
ated as  it  were  out  of  nothing,  under  the  most 
difficult  conditions  conceivable,  with  no  other 
means  than  his  own  all-inspiring  and  all-compel- 
ling personality. 

However  far  I  let  my  gaze  wander  among  the 
ranks  of  the  great  figures  of  history,  I  find  no 
parallel  among  them  for  so  completely  a  "  self- 
made  man. "  He  is  one  of  those  phenomenal  men 
such  as  Providence  gives  but  once  to  a  people,  in 
whom  a  whole  nation  and  its  history  reaches  once 
for  all  its  climax.  David  created  Israel  and  at 
the  same  time  raised  it  to  its  highest  eminence  ; 


84    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

what  Israel  was  under  and  through  David  it  never 
again  became.  And  so  we  can  easily  understand 
how  the  eyes  of  Israel  rested  in  grateful  reverence 
upon  this  figure,  and  how  a  second  David  became 
the  dream  of  Israel's  future. 

True,  the  picture  of  David  does  not  lack  the 
traits  of  human  frailty,  which  Israelitish  tra- 
dition, with  a  truly  admirable  sincerity  has  neither 
suppressed  nor  palliated ;  but  the  charm  which 
this  personality  exercised  over  all  contemporaries 
without  exception  has  not  yet  faded  for  us  of  later 
day ;  whoever  devotes  himself  without  prejudice 
to  the  contemplation  of  David's  history  and  char- 
acter cannot  fail  to  like  him.  A  saint  and  psalm- 
singer,  as  later  tradition  has  represented  him,  he 
certainly  was  not  ;  but  we  find  in  him  a  truly 
&oble  human  figure,  which,  in  spite  of  all,  pre- 
served the  tenderest  and  most  fragrant  bloom  of 
its  nature,  perfect  directness  and  simplicity  ;  no- 
where any  posing,  nothing  theatrical,  such  as  is 
always  found  in  sham  greatness  ;  he  always  acts 
out  what  he  is,  but  his  unspoiled  nature,  noble  at 
heart,  generally  comes  very  near  to  the  right  and 
good.  At  the  same  time  the  whole  personality  is 
touched  with  a  breath  of  genuine  piety  and  child- 
like trust  in  God,  so  that  we  can  wholly  compre- 
hend how  he  appears  to  tradition  as  the  ideal  ruler, 
the  king  after  God's  own  heart. 

This  king,  who  did  more  for  the  worldly  great- 
ness and  earthly  power  of  Israel  than  any  one  else, 
was  a  genuine  Israelite  in  that  he  appreciated  also 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.     8$ 

Israel's  religious  destiny  :  he  was  no  soldier-king, 
no  conqueror  and  warrior  of  common  stamp,  no 
ruler  like  any  one  of  a  hundred  others,  but  he  is 
the  truest  incorporation  of  the  unique  character 
of  Israel,  a  unique  personality  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  and  we  understand  how  he  could  be- 
come the  impersonation  of  an  idea, — how  the 
highest  and  holiest  that  Israel  hoped  for  and 
longed  for  appears  as  the  Son  of  David. 


X 


86    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SOLOMON. — THE  DIVISION    OF  THE    KINGDOM. — THE 
EARLY  YEARS   OF  THE   DIVIDED   KINGDOMS. 

r|X)  be  the  successor  of  David  was  a  great  in- 
-*•  heritance,  but  a  much  greater  responsibility. 
Will  Solomon,  upon  whose  youthful  shoulders 
the  dying  father  laid  the  heavy  burden,  be  equal 
to  it  ?  There  is  perhaps  no  other  personage  of 
Israelitish  history  of  whose  true  character  and  its 
historical  significance  it  is  so  difficult  to  get  a 
clear  conception  and  give  a  correct  picture,  as 
Solomon  ;  for  what  we  know  of  him  is  scant  and 
self-contradictory.  It  is  possible  to  represent  him 
as  an  oriental  despot  of  the  most  common  stamp 
and  support  every  trait  of  the  picture  thus  drawn 
with  Bible  references,  and  to  take  credit  into  the 
bargain  for  one's  objectivity  and  freedom  from 
prejudice.  But  such  a  judgment  would  be  ab- 
solutely unhistorical :  Solomon  cannot  have  been 
an  ordinary  and  insignificant  man, — on  this  point 
history  speaks  loud  and  clear. 

He  was  the  acknowledged  favorite  of  his  father. 
This  may  have  been  due  solely  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  late  offspring,  considerably  younger  than 
David's  other  sons,  and  born  in  his  father's  old 
age.  Now  it  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  nature  of  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    87 

man  that  his  desire  for  children  and  his  fondness 
for  them  grows  with  advancing  age.  A  grand- 
son is  usually  loved  more  fondly  than  a  son,  and 
Solomon  might  have  been  David's  grandson  as 
far  as  years  were  concerned.  But  this  is  not  the 
whole  explanation  of  their  relation.  Solomon 
was  plainly  made  of  different  clay  from  his 
brothers.  The  elder  sons  of  David,  so  far  as  we 
know  them,  were  mere  caricatures  of  their  father, 
rude,  wild  fellows,  who  had  inherited  their  father's 
strength  and  beauty  indeed,  but  not  his  lofty  mind 
and  noble  spirit. 

Moreover,  in  estimating  Solomon,  his  mother 
is  a  factor  to  be  considered.  Bathsheba,  this 
demoniac  creature,  must  have  been  a  quite  un- 
usual and  extraordinary  woman  ;  for  to  attach 
to  herself  such  a  man  as  David,  not  merely  in  tlm 
fleeting  intoxication  of  a  criminal  passion  but  per- 
manently, and  to  be  indispensable  to  his  heart  for 
twenty  years,  required  more  than  simply  a  beau- 
tiful face,  especially  when  one  considers  how 
quickly  physical  charms  decay  in  oriental  women. 
From  this  extraordinary  mother  also  Solomon 
had  received  a  rich  endowment  for  his  career. 
Thus  we  can  easily  comprehend  how  the  aged 
king  took  into  his  heart  of  hearts  this  highly  gifted, 
clever  and  animated  boy  who  played  about  him, 
growing  under  his  very  eyes  into  the  image  of 
his  fondly-cherished  mother,  and  how  he  came  to 
the  honest  conviction  that  this  son  was  the  fittest 
and  worthiest  to  sit  upon  the  throne  after  him- 


88    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

self.  And  in  diverting  the  succession  to  him  he 
committed  no  wrong  according  to  Israelitish  ideas. 
In  ancient  times  custom  seems  really  to  have  con- 
ceded to  the  father  unrestricted  disposal  of  the 
right  of  primogeniture :  the  Hebrew  language 
devised  a  regular  formal  expression  for  the  trans- 
ference of  the  right  of  primogeniture  to  a  son 
who  was  not  the  first-born,  and  this  right  was 
expressly  taken  from  the  father  only  with  the 
giving  of  the  Second  Law  (Deuteronomy).  Solo- 
mon was  eighteen  years  old  when  he  ascended 
the  throne,  at  least  no  older  than  this.  The  fact 
that  in  spite  of  this  he  maintained  his  dominion 
for  forty  years  under  the  most  trying  conditions 
is  01  itself  sufficient  evidence  of  his  great  quali- 
ties, and  that  his  father  had  not  been  deceived  in 
ftim. 

The  new  king's  tasks  were  given  in  his  condi- 
tions. David  himself  had  really  not  been  a  con- 
queror. To  extend  the  realm  further  would  have 
been  folly  ;  rather  could  the  loss  of  provinces  be 
endured  if  only  domestic  conditions  were  strength- 
ened and  consolidated.  The  kingdom  of  David 
was  the  creation  of  enthusiasm,  an  achievement 
of  a  mighty  national  tendency  which  his  master- 
ful personality  had  released  and  guided  :  if  this 
creation  was  to  be  permanent  it  was  necessary 
that  institutions  should  take  the  place  of  persons. 

David  had  in  the  main  left  domestic  conditions 
unaltered.  He  was  satisfied  if  Israel  always  re- 
sponded to  his  summons,  and  the  tribute  of  con- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    89 

quered  peoples  sufficed  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
the  still  comparatively  simple  court.  True,  David 
does  seem  to  have  contemplated  some  measures 
of  taxation — the  great  census  of  which  we  are 
told  can  have  had  no  other  end  in  view — but  when 
a  severe  pestilence  broke  out  he  saw  in  it  a  divine 
warning  and  gave  the  matter  up.  What  united 
the  Israelites  under  David  was  free  obedience  and 
voluntary  subjection  ;  it  was  not  forgotten,  and 
he  himself  did  not  deny,  that  his  rule  was  the 
outcome  of  popular  choice.  In  comparison  with 
the  neighboring  peoples,  having  long- established 
monarchical  forms  of  government,  conditions  in 
Israel  were  still  thoroughly  patriarchal  and  prim- 
itive, and  David  was  only  a  sheikh  on  a  large 
scale.  Now  it  was  Solomon's  accomplishment 
and  merit  to  have  rid  the  Israelites  of  the  la^t 
trace  of  their  Bedouin  character,  and  to  have 
trained  them  in  a  severe  and  even  harsh  school 
into  national  citizenship.  Tradition  sees  in  him 
preeminently  the  judge  and  the  ruler  who  es- 
tablishes everywhere  solid  order  and  strictest  dis- 
cipline. And  in  this  respect  his  activity  was 
unquestionably  beneficent  and  laid  the  foundation 
for  all  after  time.  If  David  created  an  Israel- 
itish  nation,  Solomon  created  an  Israelitish  state. 
But, — and  now  we  come  to  the  reverse  of  the 
medallion — Solomon  was  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  sentiment  :  L?6tat  c'est  moi.  His  government 
has  a  decidedly  personal  character,  and  all  that 
he  did  was  done  not  for  the  benefit  of  his  people, 


90    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

but  for  his  own  glorification.  Love  of  splendor 
and  desire  for  display  are  the  most  prominent 
traits  of  his  picture.  He  looked  for  the  essence  of 
dominion  in  outward  show  :  extensive  buildings, 
an  extravagant  court  with  innumerable  servants 
and  concubines, — that  was  his  taste.  But  for  this 
he  needed  most  of  all  money,  and  so  his  whole 
reign  has  a  marked  financial  character.  This 
necessity  grew  more  imperative  in  so  much  as  the 
tributes  from  foreign  peoples  soon  ceased. 

Bight  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Edom  se- 
cured its  independence.  Hadad,  a  descendant  of 
the  Edomite  royal  family,  had  escaped  the  catas- 
tropjie  that  came  upon  Edom  at  the  hands  of  Joab 
and '  David,  by  fleeing  to  Egypt  and  had  there 
formed  an  alliance  of  marriage  with  the  Pharaoh. 
When  he  heard  that  David  and  Joab  were  dead 
Hadad  returned  to  his  country.  He  despised 
Israel  and  became  king  in  Edom,  as  the  Book  of 
Kings  briefly  and  dryly  reports.  The  commercial 
highway  by  way  of  the  Arabah  valley  to  the  Red 
Sea  must,  indeed,  have  remained  in  Solomon's 
possession,  otherwise  he  would  not  have  been  able 
to  make  his  famous  trips  to  Ophir ;  but  Hadad 
evidently  ruled  without  molestation  in  the  Edom- 
ite mountain-land  proper. 

Moab,  too,  seems  to  have  shaken  off  the  Israel- 
itish  yoke.  At  any  rate,  it  was  necessary  soon 
after  to  subdue  it  anew.  But  it  was  a  matter  of 
much  more  moment  that  Solomon  did  not,  or  could 
not,  prevent  the  secession  from  Israel  of  the  Ara- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    91 

mseans  whom  David  had  conquered.  They  estab- 
lished a  new  kingdom  with  Damascus  as  center, 
which  was  destined  to  become  the  mortal  enemy 
of  Israel. 

Thus  the  conquests  of  David  were  quickly  lost, 
and  Solomon  was  left  dependent  on  the  resources 
of  his  own  land  and  people  alone.  He  divided  the 
land  into  twelve  districts  for  fiscal  purposes,  each 
of  which  had  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  court 
for  one  month.  In  conjunction  with  the  Phoeni- 
cians he  undertook  from  his  seaport  of  Eziongeber 
expeditions  to  South  Arabia  and  East  Africa, 
which  brought  him  abundant  profit.  From  the 
caravans  which  crossed  his  territory  he  collected 
high  tolls,  and  monopolized  the  Egyptian  horse 
trade  with  Asia.  And  when  these  resources  failed 
he  borrowed  of  his  friend  and  neighbor,  Hiram  ^ 
of  Tyre.  The  Tyrian  loan  had  finally  reached 
the  amount  of  12,000  pounds  of  gold  ;  that  is, 
according  to  current  value  of  the  metal,  about 
$2,880,000,  but  taking  into  consideration  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  money  at  that  time  it  would  in 
fact  correspond  to  $48,000,000  ;  and  as  Solomon 
could  not  pay  back  this  immense  sum  he  had 
to  cede  to  Hiram  a  border  district  with  twenty 
towns. 

But  Solomon's  chief  need  was  workers.  To 
supply  it  he  robbed  of  all  their  rights  and  liberties 
the  Canaanites  who  still  dwelt  among  the  Israel- 
ites, making  them  state  slaves,  just  as  Pha- 
raoh Rameses  II.  had  done  to  the  Israelites  in 


92    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

Goshen  in  his  day.  This  was  not  exactly  com- 
mendable, but  it  was  an  enormous  advance  in  the 
centralization  of  the  state.  Saul  had  planned 
something  of  the  sort,  but  had  not  been  able  to 
carry  it  out.  But  this  was  still  insufficient,  and 
accordingly  Solomon  had  levies  made  of  30,000 
Israelite  citizens,  who  were  compelled  to  work  in 
sections  of  10,000  every  fourth  month. 

Among  the  buildings  of  Solomon  none  became 
of  such  importance  to  succeeding  generations  as 
the  temple.  Yet  the  temple  was  originally 
planned  merely  as  a  chapel — only  a  part,  and  by 
no  means  the  largest  and  most  important,  of  Sol- 
omon's palace.  The  royal  residence  of  David  had 
long  ceased  to  satisfy  the  increased  requirements. 
Solomon  worked  for  thirteen  years  on  his  palace 
\at  Jerusalem. 

Solomon's  activity  in  building  and  his  develop- 
ment in  splendor  were  doubtless  increased  by  the 
fact  that  he  had  won  for  a  wife  the  daughter  of 
his  powerful  neighbor,  Pharaoh  Pashebchanen  II., 
and  had  to  supply  her  in  some  measure  with  what 
she  was  used  to  at  home,  as  indeed  he  did  build 
her  a  palace  for  herself  with  quite  exceptional 
splendor.  The  Pharaoh  had  furnished  Egyptian 
troops  to  conquer  the  ancient  Canaanite  city  of 
Gezer  which  was  evidently  indisposed  to  submit 
to  forced  annexation  by  Solomon,  and  surren- 
dered it  to  Solomon  as  dowry  for  his  daughter. 

This  is  a  symptom  of  great  military  weakness 
or  at  least  of  indolence,  and  it  is  in  keeping  with 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    93 

the  fact  that  Solomon's  buildings  were  chiefly  of 
the  nature  of  fortifications.  He.  endeavored  to 
protect  by  fortresses  all  the  strategic  or  otherwise 
important  points  of  his  country,  and  especially  to 
make  his  capital  of  Jerusalem  impregnable.  We 
see  that  Solomon  places  himself  wholly  on  the  de- 
fensive and  desires  only  to  put  his  country  into 
condition  to  maintain  and  defend  itself  within 
his  own  borders.  Here  the  difference  from  David 
becomes  most  conspicuous,  but  here  also  the  ques- 
tion may  be  asked  whether  Solomon's  policy  was 
not  the  more  correct  and  suited  to  the  situation. 
If  he  succeeded  in  securing  his  own  country 
against  attack  and  strengthening  it  within,  that 
was  enough. 

That  these  new  conditions  seemed  very  strange 
to  the  Israelites,  who  were  accustomed  to  the«\ 
most  unrestricted  freedom,  and  were  very  dis- 
tasteful to  them,  we  can  easily  imagine.  So 
much  the  more  significant  is  the  fact  that  there 
was  only  one  revolt  against  Solomon's  authority, 
and  that  easily  suppressed.  A  young  Ephraimite 
named  Jeroboam  had  attracted  Solomon's  atten- 
tion and  Solomon  had  made  him  overseer  of  the 
laborers  of  the  house  of  Joseph,  who  were  work- 
ing on  the  fortifications  of  Jerusalem.  Jeroboam 
induced  those  who  were  under  him  to  rebel, 
though  they  probably  followed  unwillingly,  but 
was  obliged  to  flee  to  Egypt.  There  the  throne 
was  no  longer  occupied  by  Solomon's  father-in- 
law,  but  a  new  dynasty  had  arisen,  the  founder 


94          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

of  which,  Sheshenk  I.  (Shishak),  of  course  re- 
ceived with  open  arms  the  enemy  of  his  neighbor 
who  was  allied  to  the  previous  dynasty. 

Otherwise  Solomon's  reign  seems  to  have  passed 
off  altogether  peacefully  and  without  disturbance 
within  the  country  itself.  And  in  one  respect  it 
bore  the  most  important  results  for  Israel.  Solo- 
mon was  what  one  might  almost  call  a  cosmopol- 
itan nature  :  he  extended  immensely  the  intellec- 
tual horizon  of  Israel,  and  opened  his  country  in 
all  directions  to  intercourse  with  the  world.  He 
placed  Israel  in  the  ranks  of  the  great  nations. 
Not  only  gold  and  ivory,  sandal  wood  and  peacocks 
came  to  Jerusalem  ;  but  also  the  art  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians and  Egyptians,  the  wisdom  and  the  fairy- 
lore  of  the  East  found  their  way  into  Israel,  giv- 
ing everywhere  the  most  powerful  impulses,  and 
rousing  to  new  life. 

Solomon  was  just  as  striking  and  winning  a 
person  as  his  father  David,  only  in  a  different  way  : 
what  is  told  of  his  wisdom  and  his  wit,  his  artis- 
tic and  scientific  tastes  and  interests  is  certainly 
to  be  regarded  as  historical.  The  epigram  has 
come  down  to  us  which  he  uttered  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  dedication  of  the  temple,  and  it  is 
among  the  most  profound  and  original  in  all 
Israelite  literature.  It  runs  : 

"  God  hath  set  the  sun  in  the  tent  of  heaven, 
But  He  Himself  hath  chosen  to  dwell  in  the  thick  darkness. 
And  yet  I  have  dared  to  build  Thee  an  house 
As  habitation  and  a  dwelling-place  for  ever." 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.          95 

It  is  quite  conceivable  that  about  the  person  of 
just  such  a  ruler  a  whole  circle  of  legends  and 
anecdotes  was  woven,  and  his  portrait  was  es- 
pecially ornamented  by  poetry.  Judah  never  had 
occasion  to  regret  that  it  remained  faithful  to  his 
son  and  preserved  the  solid  structure  of  the  state 
founded  by  Solomon. 

After  a  reign  of  forty  years  Solomon  died  and 
thereupon  a  serious  crisis  came  upon  his  realm. 
The  imposing  personality  of  Solomon  had  re- 
strained opposing  forces;  now  they  were  deter- 
mined to  bear  the  heavy  burdens  no  longer.  In 
Jerusalem,  it  is  true,  Rehoboam,  the  oldest  son 
of  the  deceased  king,  was  promptly  recognized  ; 
but  in  northern  Israel  they  had  not  forgotten  that 
David  was  not  a  member  of  their  tribes,  but  that 
the  house  of  Joseph  had  submitted  to  him  as 
electoral  king  and  on  the  terms  of  a  solemn  elec- 
toral compact. 

And  so  all  Israel  gathered  at  Shechem  to  set 
terms  for  the  new  king  :  "  Make  thou  the  heavy 
yoke  which  thy  father  put  upon  us  lighter,  and 
we  will  serve  thee,"  so  ran  their  demand.  Reho- 
boam was  clearly  disposed  to  consent,  but  his 
advisers  succeeded  in  changing  his  purpose.  Le- 
gally considered,  the  men  assembled  at  Shechem 
were  rebels ;  he  was  urged  to  make  no  concessions 
to  the  revolution,  but  to  suppress  it  by  an  appear- 
ance of  energetic  firmness.  When  on  the  third 
day  the  people  came  to  get  the  royal  response  Re- 
hoboam answered:  "My  father  did  lade  you 


96    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

with  a  heavy  yoke,  but  I  will  add  to  your  yoke  ; 
my  father  hath  chastised  you  with  whips,  but  I 
will  chastise  you  with  scorpions. " 

After  these  fateful  words  the  rebellion  was 
openly  declared.  The  terrified  king  sent  Solo- 
mon's overseer,  Adoniram,  to  negotiate,  but  he 
could  not  have  chosen  a  less  acceptable  negoti- 
ator ;  the  people  stoned  the  odious  officer  to  death 
before  the  eyes  of  the  king,  and  the  latter  hastily 
sought  his  chariot  and  barely  escaped  to  Jerusa- 
lem. But  those  who  were  at  Shechem  proclaimed 
Jeroboam,  who  meanwhile  had  returned  from 
Egypt,  king  over  Israel. 

4-nd  thus  the  work  of  David  was  destroyed  ; 
what  he  had  united  through  the  pains  and  labors 
of  a  beneficent  life  was  divided  forever  by  the  im- 
prudence of  his  grandson.  Of  course  the  might 
of  the  nation  was  broken  by  this  division,  and  it 
is  a  real  wonder  and  an  astonishing  evidence  of 
its  toughness  and  vitality  that  it  maintained  it- 
self, divided  as  it  was,  for  centuries. 

'We  have  very  scanty  information  regarding 
the  next  two  centuries.  The  Hebrew  sources 
themselves  run  low,  and  we  receive  nothing 
worth  speaking  of  from  without.  Even  the  kings 
of  this  period  are  known  to  us  by  little  more  than 
their  names.  Only  a  few,  here  and  there,  are 
for  us  concrete  figures  with  individual  features. 

In  the  beginning  the  two  hostile  brothers  made 
war  upon  each  other  for  life  and  death.  At  first 
the  advantage  seems  to  have  been  upon  the  side 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    97 

of  Judah,  where  Behoboam  had  at  his  disposal 
the  well-filled  arsenals  and  garnered  treasures  of 
his  father,  and  lived  amid  established  conditions, 
while  Jeroboam  had  to  create  everything  from 
the  beginning.  Thus  Jeroboam  considered  it  ad- 
visable to  transfer  his  residence  from  Shechem, 
where  he  had  at  first  dwelt,  to  Penuel  on  the  east 
bank  of  the  Jordan. 

But  at  this  point  a  severe  storm  broke  over  Ee- 
hoboam.  The  Egyptian  Pharaoh,  Shishak  (She- 
shenk),  marched  against  his  country  and  plundered 
Jerusalem,  carrying  off.  all  the  treasures  accumu- 
lated by  Solomon.  As  Shishak  is  the  former 
host  and  protector  of  Jeroboam  one  might  be  led 
by  the  account  of  the  Old  Testament  to  suspect 
that  Jeroboam  had  called  him  in  to  relieve  him 
of  his  neighbor  and  enemy  ;  but  from  the  repoiT 
of  his  victory  made  by  Shishak  himself  in  the 
great  temple  of  Amon  at  Karnak  we  learn  that 
he  conquered  and  plundered  north  Israelitish 
cities  also,  and  accordingly  that  his  expedition 
was  directed  against  both  kingdoms  alike.  So 
we.  see  that  it  was  just  an  ordinary  marauding 
expedition  on  which  Shishak  expected  to  secure 
easy  booty  and  cheap  laurels,  and  succeeded. 

This  is  all  that  is  told  us  of  the  seventeen  years' 
reign  of  Eehoboam, — this  and  the  fact  that  there 
was  constant  war  between  him  and  Jeroboam. 
It  is  the  same  with  Rehoboam's  son  and  successor 
Abijah,  though  it  appears  that  he  entered  into 
alliance  with  the  kingdom  of  Damascus,  in  order, 


98          HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

of  course,  to  make  with  it  common  cause  against 
Israel.  Abijah  reigned  but  three  years  ;  he  was 
followed  by  his  son  Asa,  of  whom  we  learn  that 
he  was  obliged  to  take  measures  against  his  own 
mother,  because  she  had  devoted  herself  to  the 
worship  of  an  unclean  idol. 

Meanwhile  Jeroboam  had  died  after  a  reign  of 
twenty-two  years,  having  transferred  his  resi- 
dence back  to  the  west  side  of  the  Jordan  at 
Tirzah.  He  was  followed  by  his  son  Nadab.  But 
the  latter  was  murdered  in  the  second  year  of  his 
reign.  While  engaged  in  the  siege  of  the  Phi- 
listine border  fortress  of  Gibbethon — for  we  learn 
thus  that  war  had  again  broken  out  between  the 
people  of  northern  Israel  and  the  Philistines — he 
was  slain  by  a  certain  Baasha  and  the  whole  house 
^  Jeroboam  destroyed. 

This  performance  is  typical  of  the  whole  history 
of  the  northern  kingdom.  Israel  had  rebelled 
against  the  heavy  yoke  of  Solomon,  and  now  it 
was  never  rid  of  revolutions  and  anarchy ;  the 
throne  was  regarded  as  derelict,  and  every  bold 
robber  took  possession  of  it,  only  to  be  dispossessed 
by  the  next  more  lucky  comer.  Baasha  who  was 
perhaps  Nadab's  general  (the  usurpers  are  gen- 
erally officers  and  the  revolutions  military  revolu- 
tions), and  who  must  have  been  an  efficient  sol- 
dier, turned  his  whole  force  against  Asa  of  Judah. 
At  Ramah,  about  six  miles  north  of  Jerusalem, 
on  the  border  of  his  country,  he  established  a 
close  blockade,  and  as  the  Book  of  Kings  says, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    99 

"  suffered  no  one  to  go  out  or  come  in  to  Asa, 
king  of  Judah."  Asa  was  thus  brought  into  such 
straits  that  he  gave  all  his  remaining  gold  and 
silver  to  purchase  the  aid  of  the  king  of  Damascus. 
The  latter  immediately  invaded  and  devastated 
the  whole  north  of  Israel,  whereupon  Baasha 
was  obliged  to  hasten  to  the  aid  of  his  hard- 
pressed  north-border.  Now  Asa  summoned  all 
Judah  to  arms,  had  the  fortifications  at  Eamah 
taken  down  and  the  material  transported  across 
the  border  where  with  Baasha's  stone  and  timber 
he  strongly  fortified  Geba  and  Mizpah  on  his  own 
territory.  The  Book  of  Kings  also  attributes  to 
him  the  fortification  of  other  cities. 

Baasha  ruled  for  twenty-four  years.  But  fate 
overtook  his  son  Elah.  Once  more  the  Israelites 
were  in  the  field  against  the  Philistines  and  besieg^V 
ing  Gibbethon  ;  but  the  king,  as  it  is  said,  lay 
drunken  at  Tirzah  in  the  house  of  his  minister, 
Arza.  Here  a  cavalry  officer  named  Zimri  mur- 
dered him  and  exterminated  the  whole  house  of 
Baasha  and  all  his  relatives  and  friends.  But  the 
glory  of  Zimri  was  to  last  but  seven  days. 
Scarcely  had  the  army  which  lay  encamped  be- 
fore Gibbethon,  learned  of  the  palace-revolution 
when  it  proclaimed  its  tried  leader  Omri  as  king. 
In  forced  marches  Omri  moved  against  Tirzah  ; 
Zimri  realized  that  all  resistance  was  in  vain,  but 
was  resolved  at  least  to  die  like  a  king  :  he  set 
fire  to  the  palace  and  perished  in  the  flames. 
Omri,  however,  was  not  destined  to  receive  gen- 


100        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

eral  recognition  ;  a  certain  Tibni  was  set  up  as 
opposition  king.  But  after  several  years  of  civil 
war  Omri  succeeded  in  overcoming  his  rival  ; 
Tibni  fell,  and  now  Omri  was  the  undisputed 
monarch. 

Omri's  very  first  deed  after  attaining  the  sole 
rule  bears  testimony  to  his  statesmanship.  Zimri 
had  burned  the  palace  at  Tirzah,  and  there  was 
need  of  building  another.  Omri  may  himself 
have  learned  with  dismay  what  an  easy  game  the 
capture  of  the  capital  had  been  ;  therefore  he 
moved  the  royal  residence  to  another  place  and 
founded  Samaria.  The  very  name,  which  we 
may  translate  with  watch  tower  (Wartburg),  is 
significant  enough.  Proud  and  free  the  hill  of 
Samaria  rises  from  the  surrounding  valley,  slop- 
ing gently  only  to  the  east,  but  falling  off  steeply 
on  the  other  sides.  A  gigantic  circle  of  higher 
mountains  surrounds  it  with  a  protecting  sweep. 
Moreover  this  particular  region  is  extraordinarily 
fertile  and  comparatively  well  watered.  From  a 
strategic  point  of  view  especially  the  choice  of  the 
site  is  a  strikingly  fortunate  one  ;  that  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  survived  for  a  century  and  a  half 
the  lamentable  times  that  soon  came  upon  it  is 
due  first  of  all  to  its  almost  impregnable  capital, 
which  resisted  even  the  Assyrians  for  three  years. 
Through  the  foundation  of  Samaria  Omri  became 
the  real  founder  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  it 
is  not  without  reason  that  the  Assyrians  always 
designated  the  kingdom  of  Israel  as  Omriland. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF1  ISRAEL.        IOI 

Further  than  this  we  know  only  a  few  facts  re- 
garding Omri's  reign,  and  these  only  indirectly. 
He  made  successful  war  against  Moab,  colonized 
the  northern  parts  of  Moab  with  Israelites,  and 
made  the  king  Kemosgad  pay  tribute.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  was  not  successful  against  Da- 
mascus :  he  had  to  cede  several  border  districts 
and  acknowledge  a  sort  of  feudal  overlordship. 
Therefore  he  sought  the  support  of  his  powerful 
neighbor  on  the  west,  and  married  his  son  Ahab 
to  Jezebel,  the  daughter  of  the  Tyrian  king  Eth- 
baal.  With  Judah,  where  king  Asa  still  reigned, 
he  seems  to  have  maintained  peace  and  to  have 
taken  steps  toward  closer  relations  with  the 
brother  kingdom.  On  the  other  hand,  the  first 
conflict  with  Assyria  occurs  in  his  reign.  N 

Under  Asurnazirpal,  who  ascended  the  As- 
syrian throne  in  884  B.  C.,  the  power  of  Assur 
experienced  a  mighty  revival  after  a  long  period 
of  decrepitude ;  Asurnazirpal  is  the  first  of  the 
great  conquerors  who  lived  wholly  in  war  and  by 
war  and  carried  the  terror  of  the  Assyrian  arms 
everywhere.  In  the  year  8Y6  he  marched  as  far 
as  the  Mediterranean  and  Mount  Lebanon,  and 
Omri  among  others  hastened  to  lay  his  offering 
at  the  feet  of  the  mighty  monarch  ;  but  Asur- 
nazirpal never  came  again. 

Omri  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ahab.  We 
know  relatively  the  most  of  him,  because  the 
great  prophet  Elijah  was  his  contemporary,  and 
his  career  throws  also  important  light  on  the 


102  '     HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 


king.  True,  this  light  is  not  favorable  for  Ahab, 
and  his  conflict  with  Elijah  was  fateful  for  him. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  ill  reputed  personages  in 
Israelitish  history.  But  if  we  examine  carefully 
and  with  the  searching  eye  of  criticism  the  reports 
preserved  regarding  him,  the  result  is  a  materially 
different  picture.  His  religious  conflict  with 
Elijah,  as  reported  in  the  Book  of  Kings,  is  pure 
legend  ;  the  historical  residue  turns  out  to  be 
quite  innocent,  leaving  no  occasion  for  any  just 
reproach  to  Ahab,  and  the  only  actual  crime  that 
is  laid  to  his  door,  the  judicial  murder  of  the 
Jezreelite  Naboth,  was  the  work  of  Jezebel,  which 
he  simply  did  not  interfere  with  ;  when  Elijah 
openly  and  frankly  reproached  him  with  the 
wretched  deed,  he  bitterly  repented  it  and  did 
hs^avy  public  penance  for  it. 

What  remains  of  the  reports  concerning  Ahab 
shows  him  to  have  been  a  worthy  son  of  Omri 
and  one  of  the  best  kings  and  most  powerful  rulers 
that  Israel  ever  had.  The  situation  of  his  king- 
dom was  very  critical,  and  to  this  were  added  ex- 
terior misfortune,  crop-failure  and  shortage,  fam- 
ine and  drouth,  so  as  to  shake  the  state  to  its 
foundations.  But  Ahab  was  equal  to  the  situa- 
tion, and  managed  to  win  the  respect  and  admi- 
ration of  friend  and  foe.  First  of  all,  he  took  steps 
for  a  peaceful  and  friendly  relation  with  Judah. 
Under  him  we  find  again  for  the  first  time  Israel 
and  Judah  fighting  shoulder  to  shoulder  ;  the 
old  feud  is  forgotten,  and  to  seal  their  friendship 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        103 

the  two  reigning  houses  ally  themselves  by  mar- 
riage :  Jehoshaphat  of  Judah,  who  meanwhile  had 
succeeded  his  father  Asa,  married  his  heir,  Je- 
horam,  to  Athaliah,  the  daughter  of  Ahab. 

It  is  notable,  although  Jehoshaphat  reigned 
twenty-five  years,  and  is  praised  by  the  Book  of 
Kings  as  one  of  the  best  kings  of  Judah,  that  we 
really  know  nothing  about  him  save  his  relations 
to  the  ruling  family  of  Israel.  When  we  find  ex- 
press mention  that  under  him  there  was  no  king 
in  Edom,  but  that  a  governor  from  Judah  ruled 
the  land,  we  may  indeed  infer  that  Jehoshaphat 
again  subdued  the  land  and  deposed  the  dynasty 
of  Hadad,  but  the  conclusion  is  not  inevitable. 
He  attempted  to  resume  the  Ophir  expeditions  of 
Solomon  from  Eziongeber,  but  characteristically 
refused  to  let  his  Israelitish  friend  and  neighbet^ 
take  part  in  them.  However,  he  did  not  in  the 
end  carry  out  his  purpose,  for  the  ships,  though 
constructed  with  much  pains,  were  wrecked,  prob- 
ably because  they  were  not  managed  by  the 
skilled  seafarers  of  Phoenicia,  who  in  Solomon's 
undertakings  had  been  the  leaders. 

The  most  important  matter  in  the  reign  of  Ahab 
is  his  wars  with  the  kingdom  of  Damascus.  Oinri 
had  been  obliged  to  recognize  its  overlordship  in  a 
certain  fashion,  and  evidently  Ahab  did  the  same 
for  some  time  ;  but  he  could  not  suffer  this  state 
of  things  to  continue.  A  f ter  he  had  increased  the 
power  of  resistance  of  his  country  by  fortifying 
the  most  important  cities,  he  made  an  attempt  to 


104       HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

secure  his  independence.  At  first  fortune  did  not 
favor  him,  and  Ahab  found  himself  shut  up  in 
Samaria.  King  Ben-hadad  sends  word  to  him  : 
"  Thy  gold  and  thy  silver  are  mine."  And  with 
truly  royal  mind  Ahab  does  not  hesitate  to  take 
upon  himself  the  misfortune  of  his  people,  and 
consents. 

Now  Ben-hadad  who  had  evidently  not  ex- 
pected such  prompt  yielding,  demands  further 
that  his  people  shall  also  plunder  Samaria.  But 
Ahab  cannot  consent  to  this  ;  he  says  :  "  All 
that  thou  didst  send  for  of  thy  servant  at  the  first 
I  will  do  ;  but  this  thing  I  may  not  do."  Then 
Ben-hadad  answers  :  "  The  dust  of  Samaria  will 
not  suffice  for  handf uls  for  ail  the  people  that 
follow  me  ; "  and  to  this  brutal  boast  Ahab  re- 
piies  with  dignity  and  decision  :  "  Let  not  him 
that  girdeth  on  his  armor  boast  himself  as  he  that 
putteth  it  off."  While  Ben-hadad  and  his  officers 
lie  in  their  drunken  midday  sleep  Ahab  makes  a 
desperate  sortie  with  the  seven  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three  men  whom  he  had  in  Sa- 
maria ;  the  Syrians  are  taken  wholly  by  surprise 
and  defeated,  and  hasten  back  to  Damascus  in 
confusion  with  additional  heavy  losses  on  the 
way. 

The  following  day  they  again  measure  strength 
in  open  battle  at  Aphek,  and  again,  despite  greatly 
inferior  numbers,  Ahab  wins  a  complete  victory  ; 
the  army  of  Damascus  is  destroyed,  and  Ben-ha- 
dad himself,  with  the  remnants  of  his  forces,  shut 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        105 

up  in  Aphek.  But  Ahab  nobly  and  magnani- 
mously spares  his  defenseless  opponent,  and  makes 
peace  and  friendship  with  him  on  condition  of  the 
surrender  of  all  the  territories  that  had  been  taken 
from  Israel. 

This  performance  on  the  part  of  Ahab  is  only 
explained  by  a  very  surprising  piece  of  informa- 
tion which  we  receive  from  the  Assyrians.  Shal- 
maneser  II. ,  son  and  successor  of  Asurnazirpal, 
takes  up  his  father's  plans,  and  in  854  B.  C.  leads 
all  the  forces  of  his  empire  against  Coslesyria. 
At  Karkar  on  the  river  Orontes  there  is  a  battle. 
Here  Shalmaneser  meets  a  coalition  of  many  kings 
and  tribes,  at  the  head  of  which  Ben-hadad  of  Syria 
and  Ahab  of  Israel  are  fighting  shoulder  to  shoul- 
der. True,  the  Assyrian  king  claims  a  complete 
victory,  but  this  victory  results  in  his  beginning  sL 
very  hasty  retreat,  and  it  is  five  years  before  he 
attempts  to  come  again. 

If  Ahab  had  been  a  king  of  common  mold  he 
would  certainly  have  used  the  opportunity  to  fall 
upon  the  rear  of  this  his  mortal  foe  of  many  years' 
standing  and  the  natural  enemy  of  his  people ;  but 
he  looked  further  and  recognized  the  greater  dan- 
ger ;  and  as  he  had  put  an  end  to  the  fraternal 
dissension  with  Judah,  it  was  plainly  his  intention 
here  by  conciliation  and  magnanimity  to  put  an 
end  to  the  quarrel  with  Damascus  and  conquer 
his  opponent  by  moral  force  ;  and  he  steadily  and 
faithfully  carried  out  this  noble  and  magnificent 
policy. 


IO6        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

But  Ahab  had  made  the  mistake  of  judging 
others  by  himself,  and  in  his  nobility  and  large- 
heartedness  overlooked  a  factor  with  which  the 
practical  statesman  unfortunately  must  deal,  and 
that  is  human  meanness.  When  the  danger  was 
past  Ben-hadad  never  dreamed  of  keeping  his 
plighted  word,  and  Ahab  is  compelled  to  demand 
the  rightful  possessions  of  his  people  at  the  point 
of  the  sword. 

One  year  after  the  battle  at  Karkar  the  allies  of 
that  occasion  are  facing  each  other  in  open  battle. 
Ahab  was  supported  by  Jehoshaphat  of  Judah  ; 
for  the  first  time  since  the  days  of  David  we 
see  all  Israel  united  against  a  foreign  foe.  The 
campaign  is  to  secure  the  important  border  for- 
tress of  Ramoth  in  Gilead.  How  high  Ben-hadad 
'rated  his  opponent  may  be  learned  from  the 
order  he  gave  his  captains :  "  Fight  neither 
with  small  nor  great,  save  only  with  the  king  of 
Israel." 

Ahab  may  have  known  or  suspected  this  ;  he 
does  not  wear  his  usual  armor  in  the  battle,  but 
his  fate  was  sealed.  By  chance  a  man  shot  into 
a  joint  of  his  breastplate  an  arrow  which  was  to 
put  a  premature  end  to  his  precious  life.  But 
Ahab  proposed  to  die  as  he  had  lived,  a  king  and 
a  hero.  Although  he  immediately  recognized  the 
wound  as  mortal  he  held  himself,  by  superhuman 
efforts,  upright  in  his  chariot  until  evening,  in 
order  not  to  discourage  his  troops ;  then  his 
strength  gives  way  and  he  falls  down  dead.  At 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE    OF   ISRAEL.        IO/ 

this  dreadful  tidings  a  wild  panic  seizes  the  Israel- 
ite ranks  ;  they  think  only  of  saving  the  king's 
body  ;  battle  and  campaign  are  lost.  This  is  the 
historical  Ahab  of  Israel. 

The  consequences  of  the  death  of  Ahab  are 
seen  forthwith.  Now  that  his  strong  hand  was 
cold,  the  Moabites  again  became  aggressive. 
Their  king,  Mesha,  reconquered  the  parts  of  his 
country  that  had  been  taken  by  Omri,  and  mas- 
sacred the  Israelites  that  had  settled  there  with- 
out respect  to  age  or  sex,  "as  a  delight  for  the 
eyes  in  Kemosh  and  Moab,"  as  he  himself  says. 
There  was  no  opposition,  for  Ahab's  eldest  son 
and  successor,  Ahaziah,  seems  to  have  been  an 
incapable  and  insignificant  man.  Fortunately 
for  Israel,  one  is  inclined  to  say,  he  died  in  the 
second  year  of  his  reign  in  consequence  of  a  fal 
from  the  window  of  his  palace,  and  as  he  had  no 
children  he  was  succeeded  by  his  much  abler 
brother  Jehoram.  The  latter  immediately  under- 
took a  compaign  of  revenge  against  Moab.  In 
conjunction  with  Jehoshaphat  of  Judah  they  ad- 
vanced from  the  south  by  way  of  Edom  into  that 
country  and  wasted  it  terribly  ;  but  Mesha  suc- 
ceeded in  holding  his  own  in  the  fortress  of  Kir- 
haresheth,  and  the  allied  kings  were  obliged  to 
depart  finally  with  their  purpose  unaccomplished. 

Soon  after  this  Jehoshaphat  died  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Jehoram,  husband  of  Athaliah. 
The  Book  of  Kings  reports  from  his  eight  years' 
reign  nothing  but  these  two  misfortunes  :  the 


108        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Edomites  freed  themselves  from  their  subjection 
to  Judah,  while  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  Jeho- 
ram  to  subject  them  again  failed  utterly,  and  the 
king  himself  barely  escaped  ;  furthermore,  the 
city  of  Libnah  revolted  from  Judah  and  allied 
itself  with  the  Philistines.  Jehoram  was  followed 
by  his  son  Ahaziah  who  reigned  but  one  year, 
for  then  a  terrible  catastrophe  broke  upon  the 
royal  houses  of  both  kingdoms. 

In  the  years  849,  848,  and  845  B.C.,  Shalmaneser 
was  again  in  Coelesyria,  and  thus  we  can  under- 
stand how  Jehoram  of  Israel  succeeded  in  recover- 
ing from  the  power  of  Damascus  the  city  of 
Kamoth,  before  the  walls  of  which  his  father 
Ahab  had  fallen.  Besides  there  had  been  a 
violent  change  of  dynasty  in  Damascus,  Ben- 
hadad  having  been  murdered  by  one  of  his  court- 
iers, Hazael,  who  himself  mounted  the  throne. 
Jehoram  was  wounded  and  withdrew  to  Jezreel 
to  be  healed  of  his  wound.  And  then  the  calamity 
which  had  long  been  creeping  in  the  darkness 
suddenly  burst  forth. 

The  great  prophet  Elijah  had  died  ;  his  pure 
and  sacred  work  was  carried  on  in  a  very  impure 
and  unholy  spirit.  The  impression  grew  up  that 
the  whole  house  of  Ahab  must  be  exterminated 
root  and  branch  for  the  honor  of  God.  And  now 
the  favorable  moment  seemed  to  have  come. 
Elisha  sent  into  the  camp  at  Eamoth  a  disciple 
of  the  prophets  to  anoint  as  king  the  man  whom 
he  had  selected  to  execute  the  judgment  against 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  house  of  Ahab.  This  was  Jehu,  a  dashing 
cavalry  officer,  as  we  would  describe  him :  no 
match  for  him  in  madness  rode  horse  in  Israel. 

Jehu  had  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  memo- 
rable scene  when  Elijah,  after  the  judicial  murder 
executed  against  Naboth,  had  denounced  upon 
Ahab  the  divine  judgment  which  would  demand 
of  him  and  his  children  the  blood  of  Naboth 
and  his  children.  Ambitious  and  full  of  restless 
energy,  he  seemed  to  be  the  most  suitable  in- 
strument. The  anointing  takes  place,  and  his 
comrades  do  homage  to  him.  Jehu  immediately 
forbids  any  one  to  leave  the  camp,  and  himself 
with  a  troop  of  cavalry  takes  the  road  for  Jezreel 
where  lay  the  wounded  king,  and  where  mean- 
while Ahaziah  of  Judah  had  arrived  to  visit  his  \ 
sick  uncle.  The  guard  sees  a  troop  of  cavalry 
approaching  ;  after  two  messengers  sent  out  to 
meet  them  fail  to  return,  the  two  kings  them- 
selves mount  their  chariots  and  ride  out  to  meet 
this  mysterious  troop.  Jehoram  recognizes  Jehu 
and  calls  out  to  him  :  "Is  it  peace,  Jehu?"  and 
Jehu  answered:  "What  peace,  so  long  as  the 
whoredoms  of  thy  mother  Jezebel  are  so  many  ? " 
Then  Jehoram  turned  his  chariot  and  cried  : 
*  l  There  is  treachery,  Ahaziah  !  "  But  with  fatal 
accuracy  Jehu  shoots  an  arrow  into  his  back, 
piercing  his  heart  ;  the  body  of  the  king  he  orders 
thrown  into  Naboth's  vineyard.  Ahaziah  had 
fled,  but  is  pursued  by  Jehu's  command  and  like- 
wise fatally  wounded  ;  he  dies  in  Megiddo,  not 


HO       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

far  away,  and  his  servants  bring  the  corpse  to 
Jerusalem. 

Meanwhile  the  red-handed  murderer  has 
reached  the  royal  palace  in  Jezreel.  The  aged 
Jezebel  is  minded  at  least  to  die  like  a  queen  :  in 
full  royal  attire  she  looks  from  the  window  and 
receives  the  ruthless  Jehu  with  the  haughty 
greeting  :  "Goes  all  well,  Zimri,  thou  murderer 
of  thy  master  ? "  Jehu  has  her  thrown  out  of  the 
window,  her  blood  spattering  his  horse.  Then  he 
coolly  rides  over  the  quivering  corpse,  leaving  it 
lying  on  the  street,  and  enters  the  palace  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  royal  meal ;  when  he  is  through  he  says  : 
"  See  now  to  this  cursed  woman  and  bury  her  ; 
for  she  is  a  king's  daughter." 

But  there  were  still  many  royal  princes  in  the 
capital  Samaria.  Therefore  Jehu  writes  to  the 
chief  officials  there  :  "  Ye  have  arsenals  and  fenced 
cities  ;  look  ye  out  the  best  and  meetest  of  your 
master's  sons,  and  set  him  on  his  father's  throne 
and  fight  for  him  ! "  For  reply  the  intimidated 
people  ask  his  orders.  Thereupon  he  wrote  :  "If 
ye  be  on  my  side,  take  ye  the  heads  of  your 
master's  sons  and  bring  them  to  me  to  Jezreel." 
The  horrible  order  is  executed,  seventy  royal 
princes  are  murdered,  and  their  severed  heads 
packed  in  baskets  and  sent  to  Jezreel.  There 
Jehu  has  them  piled  in  two  pyramids  beside  the 
city  gate  and  feasts  his  eyes  on  the  terrible  sight, 
casting  to  the  people  that  stood  about  a  cynical 
witticism. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        Ill 

Now  he  starts  for  the  capital  of  the  kingdom, 
having  first  caused  all  the  friends,  supporters,  and 
officials  of  the  overthrown  dynasty  remaining  in 
Jezreel  to  be  slain.  On  the  way  there  is  more 
bloody  work.  At  Beth-ekeb  he  meets  a  party  of 
forty-two  persons  of  distinction.  They  profess 
themselves  royal  princes  from  Jerusalem,  coming 
to  visit  Ahaziah  and  Jehoram  in  Jezreel.  Jehu 
has  them  seized,  and  the  forty -two  princes  of  the 
house  of  David  follow  the  seventy  of  the  house  of 
Omri.  Thus  he  enters  Samaria. 

A  supposedly  religious  movement  had  brought 
him  to  the  throne  ;  he  now  paid  in  his  own  fashion 
those  who  had  elevated  him.  He  makes  procla- 
mation :  "  Ahab  served  Baal  a  little  ;  but  Jehu 
shall  serve  him  much."  He  makes  pretense  as 
though  he  would  offer  his  coronation-sacrifice  in 
the  temple  of  Baal  erected  by  Ahab,  and  sum- 
mons thither  on  pain  of  death  all  worshipers  of 
Baal.  When  they  were  all  in  the  trap,  he  had 
them  cut  down  by  the  guards  and  desecrated  the 
temple  in  the  most  brutal  manner.  Of  course, 
the  boards  were  now  swept  clean  in  Samaria  also, 
and  all  the  relatives,  friends,  supporters,  and 
officials  of  the  exterminated  royal  house  were 
slaughtered.  The  peace  of  the  grave  dwelt  in 
Samaria. 

The  fanatical  prophets  could  not  have  chosen 
for  the  execution  of  their  purpose  a  more  unholy 
instrument  than  this  bloodhound  ;  even  a  cen- 
tury later,  almost,  Israel  still  stands  aghast  at 


112        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

the  memory  of  this  horror,  and  the  prophet  Hosea 
sees  in  the  bloody  deeds  of  Jehu  an  unatoned 
guilt  which  rests  upon  the  kingdom  and  its  royal 
house,  and  can  be  atoned  for  only  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  both.  And  if  ever  in  history  God  himself 
has  clearly  spoken  and  pronounced  condemnation 
upon  human  delusions,  it  was  here  :  by  the  fall 
of  the  house  of  Omri  Israel  itself  was  brought 
to  the  brink  of  destruction,  and  the  reign  of  Jehu 
and  of  his  son,  Jehoahaz,  is  the  most  miserable 
period  that  Israel  ever  experienced. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ironies  of  fate 
that  these  murders  which  were  alleged  to  have 
been  done  to  the  honor  of  God,  and  which  actually 
did  completely  root  out  the  worship  of  Baal  in 
Samaria,  led  in  Jerusalem  to  exactly  the  opposite 
result.  King  Ahaziah  and  forty-two  princes  of 
the  royal  house  had  succumbed  to  the  murderous 
steel  of  Jehu  ;  how  will  the  future  of  Judah  fare  ? 
A  wholly  unexpected  turn  of  affairs  ensues.  When 
the  queen-mother,  Athaliah,  learns  that  her  son 
is  dead,  she  proceeds  to  finish  Jehu's  work,  and 
has  the  whole  royal  family  put  to  death.  Only 
one  little  grandson,  Ahaziah's  one-year-old  son, 
Joash,  escaped  her  frenzy  ;  a  sister  of  Ahaziah, 
Jehosheba,  who  was  married  to  the  priest  Je- 
hoiada,  saved  her  little  nephew  and  concealed 
him  in  the  temple  from  his  grandmother. 

Athaliah  now  assumes  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment as  sovereign  queen.  She  seems  to  have  met 
no  opposition  ;  Judah  submitted  with  just  as 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        113 

much  resignation  to  Athaliah  and  her  wickedness 
as  had  Israel  to  Jehu  and  his  monstrous  deeds. 
Athaliah  now  erected  at  Jerusalem  a  temple  of 
Baal,  and,  if  we  may  credit  the  report  which  even 
gives  us  the  name  of  the  priest  appointed  by  her, 
celebrated  the  worship  of  Baal  officially.  It  is 
asked,  What  can  have  moved  Athaliah  to  turn 
thus  madly  against  her  own  flesh  and  blood  ?  How 
is  it  possible  that  a  grandmother  would  have  her 
own  grandchildren  exterminated  ?  On  this  very 
point  an  explanation  is  not  far  to  seek.  Condi- 
tions in  the  Orient  are  such  that  the  first  lady  of 
the  land  is  not  the  wife  but  the  mother  of  the 
king ;  she  is  the  only  person  to  whom  the  king 
himself,  the  sovereign  lord  of  all,  shows  reverence 
and  even  submission — whom  he  recognizes  as 
superior  to  himself ;  he  goes  to  meet  her,  does\ 
obeisance  to  her,  seats  her  at  his  right  hand.  So 
we  see  that  the  position  of  the  queen-mother  was 
actually  a  court  office,  and  the  highest  of  all ; 
King  Asa  formally  deposed  his  wicked  mother 
from  this  dignity.  The  moment  her  grandson 
ascended  the  throne  Athaliah  would  have  been 
compelled  to  vacate  this  first  position  in  the  king- 
dom in  favor  of  her  daughter-in-law,  and  her 
proud  heart  could  not  bear  this.  Lust  of  power, 
and  the  gift  for  ruling, — generally,  alas  !  com- 
bined,— must  have  impelled  her  and  made  a  fury 
of  her  ;  it  is  possible  also  that  the  thought  arose 
that  the  ruling  house  in  the  little  land  of  Judah 
should  not  fare  better  than  that  in  her  own 


114       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

mighty  Israel, — if  she  could  have  had  her  way 
the  house  of  David  would  have  perished  from  the 
earth.  But  God  held  his  hand  over  it ;  he  cared 
too  much  for  it  to  let  the  family  be  destroyed  by 
an  inhuman  woman. 

The  destruction  of  the  house  of  Omri  and  the 
catastrophe  in  the  house  of  David  constitute  a 
milestone  in  the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel 
at  which  we  may  tarry  and  turn  away  over- 
come. Unspeakable  horrors  at  Samaria,  un- 
speakable horrors  at  Jerusalem,  and  the  curtain 
falls  on  blood  and  corpses.  Is  this  terrible  picture 
an  omen  for  the  future  ?  Yes,  and  no.  .  In  the 
next  chapter  we  shall  see  both  kingdoms  fall,  but 
their  fall  is  not  a  blood-curdling  melodrama, 
rather  a  genuine  tragedy  ;  they  fall  like  heroes, 
after  a  manful  struggle  with  destiny,  and  there 
is  a  mitigating  feature  :  they  fall,  indeed,  but 
they  do  not  perish  ;  new  life  will  spring  from  the 
ruins. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TO  THE   DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM    BY   THE 
CHALDEANS. 


minds  still  bear  the  fresh  impression  of 
the  terrible  events  in  Samaria  and  Jeru- 
salem. What  will  be  the  fate  of  the  blood-stained 
usurper  of  the  throne  ? 

It  was  but  six  years  until  righteous  retribution 
overtook  Athaliah.  Jehoiada  the  priest,  who 
had  taken  his  nephew,  the  crown-prince  Joash, 
into  the  temple  for  safety  and  there  kept  him 
hidden,  established  relations  with  the  captains  af 
the  royal  body-guard  and  managed  to  win  them 
for  his  plan.  We  learn  in  this  connection  that  the 
whole  royal  body-guard  did  duty  in  the  temple 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  that  only  one-  third  of  them 
returned  to  the  palace  for  service  there,  while  two- 
thirds  remained  in  the  temple  as  a  sort  of  guard 
of  honor.  One  Sabbath  when  there  was  a  numer- 
ous concourse  in  the  temple  Jehoiada  detained 
the  whole  body-guard  in  the  temple,  so  that  the 
royal  palace  was  without  any  military  protection 
whatever  and  Athaliah  had  no  troops  of  any  kind 
at  her  command.  Now  Jehoiada  brings  the  seven- 
year-old  crown-prince  to  what  we  would  call  the 


Il6       HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

royal  box  in  the  temple,  and  there  anoints  and 
crowns  him,  whereupon  a  thundering  "  Hurrah  " 
from  the  guards  and  the  whole  people  greets  the 
legitimate  ruler.  At  the  sound  Athaliah  goes  to 
the  temple  to  learn  the  cause  of  it  ;  at  the  com- 
mand of  Jehoiada  she  is  seized  and  taken  out  and 
slain  at  the  entrance  to  the  temple  ;  the  temple 
she  had  erected  to  Baal  is  destroyed  and  the  priest 
appointed  by  her  likewise  slain. 

From  the  forty  years'  reign  of  Joash  only  one 
occurrence  is  reported  in  detail,  which,  however, 
throws  a  peculiar  and  glaring  light  upon  the  con- 
ditions of  the  time.  As  a  matter  of  course  the 
priest  Jehoiada  at  first  conducted  the  government 
as  guardian  for  his  nephew,  and  the  authority 
and  influence  of  the  priesthood  was  greatly  in- 
creased by  this  relationship  ;  but  unfortunately 
the  priesthood  made  a  very  material  use  of  this. 
In  the  twenty-third  year  of  Joash  there  was  a 
sharp  accounting  between  him  and  his  uncle  the 
priest.  The  priests  were  in  the  habit  of  receiving 
from  the  people  voluntary  offerings  for  the  service 
and  the  temple,  but  were  evidently  allowing  these 
gifts  to  find  their  way  to  their  private  coffers ; 
therefore  the  king  deprived  them  of  this  office  of 
trust,  and  a  contribution-box  was  placed  in  the 
temple,  into  which  thereafter  all  offerings  were  to 
be  put.  When  this  ' '  chest  with  a  hole  in  the  lid, " 
as  the  Bible  account  briefly  but  clearly  describes 
it,  was  full,  royal  officials  came  and  emptied  it, 
and  carried  the  money  away  ;  and  this  arrange- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

ment  became  permanent,  being  expressly  men- 
tioned as  late  as  the  time  of  King  Josiah. 

Jehu  died  without  having  been  molested,  and 
bequeathed  the  usurped  throne  to  his  descendants 
even  to  the  fourth  generation  ;  but  then  an  even 
more  fearful  fate  than  in  the  case  of  Athaliah 
overtook  the  ruler. 

From  this  point  on,  Assyria  is  the  determining 
factor,  and  the  whole  history  of  Israel  is  intelli- 
gible only  when  we  know  the  history  of  Assyria. 
This  may  also  be  maintained  in  a  certain  sense  for 
earlier  times.  The  pan-Israelitish  kingdom  of 
David  would  not  have  been  possible  save  for  the 
fact  that  Assyria,  which  had  already  prepared 
under  Tiglath-Pileser  I.,  1110  B.  C.,  to  establish 
itself  in  Ccelesyria,  was  in  David's  time  in  such  a 
condition  of  weakness  and  impotence  that  we  cfo 
not  even  know  the  names  of  its  kings  for  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half. 

From  the  time  of  Shalmaneser  II.  on,  Assyrian 
and  Hebrew  history  are,  as  it  were,  two  connected 
vessels,  where  the  height  of  the  water  in  the 
one  is  always  governed  by  that  in  the  other ;  if 
Assyria  was  powerful,  Israel  was  prosperous  ;  but 
if  the  power  of  Assyria  was  declining,  Israel 
suffered  accordingly. 

In  the  year  842  B.  C.,  probably  the  date  of  the 
two  violent  usurpations  in  Samaria  and  Jerusalem, 
Shalmaneser  marched  for  the  fifth  time  against 
Damascus.  This  time  he  succeeded  in  inflicting 
upon  King  Hazael  a  decisive  defeat.  He  besieged 


U8   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

him  in  his  capital,  but  could  not  take  Damascus. 
Under  the  cirumstances  it  was  a  correct  and 
reasonable  policy,  humanly  considered,  for  Jehu  to 
throw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  Assyrians,  the 
mighty  enemies  of  his  hostile  neighbor  :  he  sent  a 
considerable  tribute  to  Shalmaneser,  which  the 
latter  caused  to  be  depicted,  among  other  things, 
upon  his  famous  black  obelisk. 

And  yet  Jehu  had  reckoned  without  his  host, 
as  the  saying  goes.  Shalmaneser  came  again, 
indeed,  in  839  B.  C. ;  but  then  there  followed  a  pe- 
riod of  thirty-eight  years  in  which  no  Assyrian 
made  his  appearance  in  that  region.  Now  the 
people  of  Damascus  threw  themselves  with  all  the 
force  of  hatred  and  revenge  upon  Israel, — with 
what  result  we  will  let  the  Book  of  Kings  tell : 
"  In  the  days  of  Jehu  the  Lord  began  to  cut  Israel 
short,  and  Hazael  smote  them  in  all  the  coasts  of 
Israel."  He  seems  to  have  taken  from  Israel  the 
whole  of  the  territory  east  of  the  Jordan,  and  he 
carried  his  warlike  and  victorious  incursions  even 
to  the  country  of  the  Philistines  :  he  took  and  de- 
stroyed Gath,  and  Joash  of  Judah  was  enabled  to 
ransom  Jerusalem  from  siege  only  by  the  delivery 
of  all  the  treasures  in  the  temple  and  palace. 

While  the  situation  under  Jehu  was  sad,  it  be- 
came absolutely  hopeless  under  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Jehoahaz.  "  At  that  time,"  says  the 
Book  of  Kings,  "  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kin- 
dled against  Israel,  and  He  delivered  them  into 
the  hand  of  Hazael  king  of  Aram  (Syria)  and  into 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.   I IQ 

the  hand  of  Ben-hadad,  the*  son  of  Hazael,  con- 
tinually. He  left  to  Jehoahaz  but  ten  chariots 
and  fifty  horsemen  and  ten  thousand  foot  soldiers, 
for  the  king  of  Aram  (Syria)  had  destroyed  them 
and  ground  them  to  dust." 

By  the  most  probable  assumption,  Jehoahaz  is 
the  unnamed  king  in  whose  reign  occurred  the 
siege  of  Samaria  reported  in  the  story  of  the 
prophet  Elisha,  when  famine  raged  so  frightfully 
that  mothers  slew  and  devoured  their  own  chil- 
dren, and  when  one  of  these  wretched  women 
appealed  to  the  king  because  she  had  shared  her 
son  the  day  before  with  another  woman  and  the 
latter  now  refused  to  reciprocate  in  kind.  But 
this  siege  was  suddenly  raised  because  Ben-hadad 
received  tidings  that  his  own  land  was  threatened 
by  an  invading  foe.  This  foe  must  have  been  tlie 
Assyrians. 

In  fact  the  Assyrians  are  again  found  in  Cosle- 
syria  in  the  years  805,  804,  and  803  B.  C.,  and 
strange  to  say  it  is  a  woman  who  begins  the 
mighty  advance  of  the  Assyrian  arms.  The  nom- 
inal ruler  in  Nineveh  was  King  Eamman-Nirari 
III.,  but  being  yet  a  boy,  his  mother,  the  Babylo- 
nian princess  Sammuramat,  wielded  the  scepter 
for  him,  and  with  a  strong  hand  :  she  resumed 
the  policy  of  her  father-in-law,  Shalmaneser,  and 
sent  out  her  generals  and  troops  into  all  quarters 
of  the  world  to  announce  to  astonished  humanity 
that  a  woman  was  preparing  to  renew  the  glory 
of  Assur. 


120       HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  must  recognize  in 
this  vigorous  and  energetic  Babylonian  princess 
and  Assyrian  queen-mother  the  Semiramis  of  the 
Greeks.  And  among  other  places  she  sent  her 
troops  three  years  in  succession  into  Ccelesyria, 
and  thus  Israel  had  a  breathing  spell ;  Joash,  the 
brave  and  vigorous  successor  of  Jehoahaz,  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  Ben-hadad  three  times  de- 
cisively, and  in  giving  Israel  relief  from  this  tor- 
mentor. But  Joash  must  needs  turn  his  victori- 
ous arms  against  Judah  also.  There  King  Joash, 
after  a  reign  of  forty  years,  had  been  murdered 
by  two  high  officials  and  succeeded  by  his  son 
Amaziah,  who  avenged  the  death  of  his  father 
upon  the  murderers,  but  had  only  the  murderers 
executed  and  not  their  families.  He  also  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  the  Edomites  and  in  again 
subjecting  this  old  province. 

What  follows  must  be  told  in  the  very  language 
of  the  Bible  account :  "  Then  Amaziah  sent  mes- 
sengers to  Jehoash  (Joash)  king  of  Israel,  saying  : 
'  Come  let  us  look  one  another  in  the  face  ! '  And 
Jehoash  answered  Amaziah,  saying  :  *  The  thistle 
that  was  in  Lebanon  sent  to  the  cedar  that  was 
in  Lebanon,  saying  :  "  Give  thy  daughter  to  my 
son  to  wife."  And  there  passed  by  a  wild  beast 
that  was  in  Lebanon,  and  trode  down  the  thistle. 
Thou  hast  indeed  smitten  Edom,  and  thy  heart 
hath  lifted  thee  up ;  glory  thereof,  and  abide  at 
home  ;  for  why  shouldst  thou  fall  to  thy  hurt  and 
Judah  with  thee  ? '  But  Amaziah  would  not  hear. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.  121 

And  so  they  looked  one  another  in  the  face  at 
Beth-shemesh.  And  Judah  was  put  to  the  worse 
before  Israel ;  and  they  fled  every  man  to  his 
tent.  And  Jehoash  took  Amaziah  prisoner  at 
Beth-shemesh,  and  brought  him  to  Jerusalem, 
and  brake  down  the  wall  of  Jerusalem  a  space  of 
four  hundred  cubits,  and  took  away  all  the  gold 
and  silver  in  the  temple  and  in  the  palace,  and 
hostages  also,  and  returned  to  Samaria. "  Indeed 
the  conjecture  has  been  put  forth,  and  the  at- 
tempt made  to  support  it,  that  Jehoash  put  a  com- 
plete end  to  the  kingdom  of  Judah  for  the  time 
being  and  formally  incorporated  it  with  the  king- 
dom of  Israel. 

Amaziah  came  to  a  like  end  with  his  father 
Joash.  The  people  grew  weary  of  the  rule  of  the 
indiscreet  and  thoughtless  monarch  and  murdered 
him.  They  took  his  sixteen-year-old  son,  Azariah 
or  Uzziah — he  has  both  names — and  seated  him 
upon  his  father's  throne.  Uzziah  was  evidently 
not  the  eldest  son  and  heir- apparent,  but  this  time 
the  popular  choice  had  hit  upon  the  right  man.  His 
reign  of  fifty-two  years  must  have  been  power- 
ful and  prosperous  and  a  period  of  new  progress  for 
Judah,  although  we  know  surely  from  this  whole 
long  time  only  the  one  fact  that  Uzziah  recon- 
quered the  Edomite  seaport  Elath  and  fortified  it. 
But  the  descriptions  by  the  prophet  Isaiah,  who 
was  consecrated  prophet  in  the  year  of  Uzziah's 
death,  declare  loudly  and  clearly  that  outward 


122        HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

conditions  in  Judah  at  that  time  were  prosperous 
and  even  flourishing. 

But  we  must  now  return  to  Israel.  In  the  year 
797  B.  C.  the  Assyrians  had  finally  taken  Damas- 
cus, though  they  did  not  immediately  dethrone 
King  Mari,  son  of  Ben-hadad,  but  allowed  the 
country  to  continue  its  existence.  But  in  the  fol- 
lowing fifty  years  they  returned  five  times,  so 
that  a  lasting  restoration  of  the  kingdom  was  im- 
possible. Thus  Israel  was  left  free,  and  the  son 
of  Jehoash,  Jeroboam  II. ,  succeeded  not  only  in 
regaining  the  former  possessions,  but  in  taking 
from  Damascus  a  part  of  its  territory  and  sub- 
duing all  Moab,  and  thus  in  restoring  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  to  the  same  compass  as  in  the  time 
of  David.  He  ruled  over  the  whole  country  from 
Edom  to  Damascus,  and  seems  to  have  been  on 
friendly  terms  with  Uzziah  of  Judah  ;  at  least  we 
hear  of  no  dissension  between  them. 

Unfortunately  we  know  no  details  of  the  forty- 
one  years'  reign  of  Jeroboam  II.  But  the  light 
which  Jeroboam  caused  once  more  to  illumine 
Israel  was  only  the  glow  of  evening,  a  last  flick- 
ering of  the  dying  taper.  Under  Jeroboam's  son, 
Zechariah,  Nemesis  overtook  the  house  of  Jehu  : 
after  a  rule  of  six  months  he  was  murdered  by  a 
certain  Shallum,  who  in  his  turn  was  overthrown 
after  one  month  by  Menahem  and  slain  in  a  war 
waged  with  barbarous  cruelty.  And  now  des- 
tiny came  upon  Israel  with  giant  strides. 

In  the  year  745  B.C.  a  usurper  named  Pul  had 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        123 

mounted  the  Assyrian  throne,  and  as  a  sort  of 
declaration  of  his  purposes  he  adopted  the  name 
of  the  first  great  Assyrian  conqueror,  Tiglath- 
Pileser.  And  he  carried  out  his  program  with 
brilliant  success.  As  early  as  745  B.  C.  he  had 
begun  systematically  to  conquer  Ccelesyria.  Me- 
nahem  took  pains  to  purchase  his  friendship  and 
protection  by  means  of  a  tribute  of  a  thousand  tal- 
ents of  silver.  This  tribute  was  raised  by  a  poll 
tax,  and  Menahem  demanded  of  every  man  of 
means  in  Israel  fifty  shekels  of  silver.  This  is 
an  interesting  item  for  the  student  of  national 
economy,  as  it  proves  that  there  were  at  that  time 
in  Israel  60,000  men  of  means.  And  Menahem 
did  manage  to  die  a  peaceful  death  and  was  able 
to  bequeath  the  kingdom  to  his  son  Pekahiah^ 
who,  however,  was  soon  slain  by  an  adjutant 
named  Pekah,  who  mounted  the  throne  destined 
to  be  the  next  to  the  last  king  of  Samaria. 

And  now  begins  an  almost  incredible  spectacle. 
The  doves  over  which  the  hawk  is  already  hover- 
ing ready  for  his  mortal  swoop,  begin  pecking 
and  fighting  one  another.  In  Jerusalem  the 
crown  had  just  been  assumed  by  Ahaz,  the  grand- 
son of  Azariah,  evidently  still  very  young  and  of 
very  youthful  character.  Israel  and  Damascus 
profit  by  his  weak  and  unpopular  rule.  They 
combine  against  Judah  in  order  to  drive  the  house 
of  David  from  the  throne  and  make  the  king  a 
vassal  dependent  on  them.  First  they  expel  the 
Judeans  from  Elath,  which  they  give  back  to  the 


124        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE    OF   ISRAEL. 

Edomites,and  invade  Judah  itself,  bringing  it  into 
direst  distress.  The  capital,  Jerusalem,  was  be- 
sieged and  hard  beset,  and  this  situation  proba- 
bly brought  about  that  resort  to  the  last  remedy 
of  despair,  reported  of  Ahaz  by  the  Book  of  Kings  : 
he  sacrificed  his  own  son,  just  as  King  Mesha  of 
Moab  in  extreme  distress  made  a  burnt  offering 
upon  the  walls  of  his  beleaguered  city  of  the  son 
who  was  to  succeed  him  as  king. 

Finally  Ahaz  knew  no  other  way  out  of  the 
difficulty  but  to  send  a  message  to  Tiglath-Pileser, 
saying :  ' '  I  am  thy  servant  and  thy  son  ;  come 
up  and  save  me  out  of  the  hand  of  the  king  of 
Syria  (Aram)  and  of  the  king  of  Israel."  That 
this  petition  was  supported  by  jingling  argu- 
ments is  a  matter  of  course.  Under  the  circum- 
stances Tiglath-Pileser  would  perhaps  have  inter- 
fered of  his  own  accord  ;  at  any  rate  he  did  not 
wait  for  a  second  invitation,  but  came  straight- 
way. Damascus  was  besieged  and  a  part  of  the 
army  sent  against  Israel.  Pekah's  life  was  ended 
by  the  murderous  steel  of  a  certain  Hoshea,  who 
was  recognized  as  an  Assyrian  vassal  but  was 
compelled  to  resign  the  country  east  of  the  Jor- 
dan and  the  entire  North  to  Assyria.  After  a 
siege  of  three  years  Damascus  was  taken,  King 
Resin  was  executed,  and  his  country  appropriated 
as  an  Assyrian  province. 

Thus  the  kingdom  of  Damascus  had  vanished 
and  Judah  and  the  decimated  remainder  of  Israel 
had  become  dependencies  of  Assyria.  Ahaz  un- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.          12$ 

derstood  the  situation,  and  was  shrewd  enough 
to  keep  quiet,  but  in  Israel  the  old,  defiant  spirit 
of  independence  flashed  forth  mightily. 

In  the  year  T27  B.  C.  the  powerful  Tiglath- 
Pileser  had  died,  and  at  about  the  same  time 
Egypt  had  received  an  energetic  and  enterprising 
ruler  in  the  forceful  Ethiopian  prince  Shabaka 
(also  Sabe,  Sebech,  Sewe),  the  Biblical  So.  For 
Egypt  it  was  a  vital  matter  that  the  Assyrians 
should  not  establish  themselves  on  her  border  ; 
self-preservation  compelled  her  to  interpose. 
Therefore  Shabaka  entered  into  negotiations  with 
the  rulers  in  Palestine,  and  Hoshea  allowed  him- 
self to  be  deluded  by  the  voice  of  the  siren,  and 
broke  his  allegiance  to  the  Assyrians.  Forthwith 
the  son  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  Shalmaneser  IVi>v 
marched  against  him.  Hoshea  indeed  surrendered 
and  was  imprisoned ;  but  Samaria  itself,  even 
without  a  king,  made  desperate  resistance  ;  only 
after  three  years  did  the  Assyrians  succeed  in 
overcoming  the  creation  of  Omri.  It  was  taken 
in  the  year  722  B.  C.,  while  the  Egyptians  and 
Ethiopians  never  lifted  a  hand  for  its  relief. 

This  is  the  end  of  the  Kingdom  of  Israel.  The 
Assyrians  seized  the  country  as  a  province  and 
put  it  under  the  immediate  rule  of  Assyria. 
But  they  did  not  destroy  Samaria  itself.  On 
the  contrary  it  became  the  seat  of  the  Assyrian 
prefect,  after  27,280  persons,  that  is,  certainly 
the  whole  population  which  had  survived  the 
siege,  had  been  carried  away  from  it  into  exile. 


126       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

The  opinion  is  very  prevalent  that  the  whole 
population  of  Israel  was  carried  away  to  Assyria, 
but  this  is  decidedly  an  error.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Assyrians  flooded  the  land  with  foreign  col- 
onists, thus  entirely  destroying  its  nationality  ; 
in  Judah  it  soon  became  the  custom  to  regard  the 
Samarians  as  half  heathen.  The  fact  that  the 
race,  surrounded  by  powerful  enemies  and  in  the 
midst  of  domestic  anarchy  and  constant  revolu- 
tions, nevertheless  maintained  itself  with  honor 
for  over  two  hundred  years  and  finally  perished 
honorably,  is  a  shining  proof  of  its  inherent 
worth  and  of  its  indestructible  vitality.  Yet 
even  after  its  destruction  the  kingdom  of  Israel 
was  pursued  by  misfortune  :  an  undeserved  re- 
proach clings  to  its  memory. 

Later  Judean  historiography,  which  fixed  the 
picture  of  Israelitish  history  for  all  following 
times,  and  whose  views  have  entered  into  our 
very  flesh  and  blood  as  Bible  history,  sees  in 
the  House  of  David  the  legitimate  and  divinely 
appointed  dynasty  for  all  Israel,  and  in  the 
Temple  of  Solomon  the  only  legitimate  sanc- 
tuary for  all  Israel,  and  accordingly  regards  the 
Ten  Tribes  as  rebels  and  heretics,  who  have  re- 
nounced through  wicked  arrogance  and  sinful  de- 
fiance the  legitimate  dynasty  and  the  true  reli- 
gion. The  final  consequence  of  this  view  appears 
in  the  latest  historical  book  of  the  Bible,  the 
"$ook  of  Chronicles,  to  which  only  Judah  is  Is- 
rael, and  which  consequently  ignores  entirely  the 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes  and  tells  after  the 
division  in  the  kingdom  only  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Judah.  Indeed,  some  have  gone  so  far  as  to  re- 
gard the  claim  of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes 
to  the  name  of  the  Promise,  the  name  Israel,  as 
boundless  presumption  and  an  utterly  unjustified 
pretension.  But  this  whole  point  of  view  is  un- 
historical.  The  center  of  gravity  of  the  race, 
materially  as  well  as  intellectually,  was  in  fact 
with  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes  :  it  was 
really  the  People  of  Israel,  beside  which  Judah 
can  only  be  regarded  as  a  part  which  had  sepa- 
rated from  the  whole  body.  That  the  Kingdom 
of  Judah  was  only  an  appendage  to  the  more  pow- 
erful neighbor  kingdom  until  after  the  destruc- 
tion of  Samaria  is  shown  as  plainly  as  possible 
by  the  accounts  of  the  Book  of  Kings  itself. 

The  religious  judgment  of  later  times  has 
been  influenced  by  the  bull-cult,  which  was  prac- 
tised officially  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes. 
But  in  this  connection  the  fact  is  highly  note- 
worthy, and  yet  is  not  generally  given  a  clear 
explanation,  that  we  do  not  hear  a  single  word 
of  rebuke  on  this  subject  from  the  prophet  Elijah. 
When  he  denounces  Baal  in  Samaria  and  Israel, 
he  is  simply  advocating  the  ' '  calves  of  Dan  and 
Bethel,"  the  only  customary  form  of  worship 
in  the  kingdom  of  Israel,*  which  he  himself  did 
not  attack.  The  view  that  this  whole  species  of 
worship  was  pure  heathenism,  and  the  worship 

*  Cp.  i  Kings,  12  :  28. 


128       HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

of  God  in  an  image  folly  and  absurdity,  is  first 
found  in  the  prophet  Hosea,  and  is  an  outgrowth 
of  literary  prophecy. 

In  the  pre-prophetic  times  according  to  the 
express  testimony  of  the  Book  of  Kings  itself, 
religious  conditions  in  Judah  were  not  a  whit 
better  than  in  Israel,  indeed  we  have  documen- 
tary evidence  of  the  worst  distortions  and  per- 
versions only  in  Judah.  And  especially  let  us 
not  forget  that  the  greatest  spiritual  power  that 
ever  arose  in  Israel,  prophecy,  is,  if  I  may  use 
the  expression,  an  exclusive  growth  of  North 
Israel,  which  bloomed  and  developed  on  the  soil 
of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes  :  Joseph,  and 
not  Judah,  gave  this  divine  blessing  to  mankind. 
Samuel,  Elijah,  and  Hosea  were  North  Israelites, 
and  even  the  native  Judean  Amos  worked  exclu- 
sively in  and  for  Israel. 

With  the  loss  of  national  and  political  inde- 
pendence this  relation  changes  immediately : 
Samaria  is  thenceforth  only  an  Assyrian  province, 
and  Judah  receives  the  inheritance.  After  722 
B.C.  Judah  really  became  Israel,  and  the  spiritual 
life  too  is  centered  in  Jerusalem  ;  the  prophet 
Nahum,  for  instance,  although  a  native  of  Galilee, 
regards  himself  altogether  as  a  Judean,  and  does 
not  even  connect  with  the  destruction  of  the 
universal  empire  of  Assyria  the  hope  of  a  resto- 
ration of  the  Kingdom  of  the  Ten  Tribes. 

True,  Judah  was  also  an  Assyrian  dependency, 
and  remained  so  a  whole  century ;  but  if  it  de- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        129 

spatched  its  annual  tribute  dutifully  and  conscien- 
tiously to  Nineveh,  that  was  all  the  Assyrian 
government  cared  for.  In  domestic  affairs  it  was 
still  wholly  its  own  master,  and  could  develop 
unchecked  and  unhindered  ;  indeed,  the  question 
may  fairly  be  raised  whether  the  dependency  on 
Assyria  was  not  actually  a  blessing  for  its  in- 
terior development,  inasmuch  as  it  guaranteed  a 
positive  security  and  permanence  of  conditions 
and  relieved  it  of  the  necessity  of  cultivating  in- 
ternational politics,  for  which  the  petty  state  of 
Judah,  about  the  size  of  the  English  county  of 
Kent,  or  half  again  as  large  as  Khode  Island, 
had  neither  the  power  nor  the  means,  and  in 
which  it  would  inevitably  have  worn  itself  out. 
Hence  we  can  fully  comprehend  how  a  man  like 
the  prophet  Isaiah,  who  was  certainly  a  genuine 
patriot  and  did  not  underestimate  the  destiny 
of  his  people,  could  actually  regard  it  as  the 
object  of  his  life  to  keep  Judah  in  peaceful  sub- 
jection to  Assyria  and  preserve  it  from  unwise 
adventures. 

The  conquest  of  Samaria  was  not  achieved 
under  Shalmaneser  IV.,  but  belongs  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  reign  of  Sargon.  This  Assyrian  ruler, 
perhaps  the  mightiest  of  all,  was,  as  it  seems,  a 
descendant  of  the  old  Assyrian  royal  family  over- 
thrown by  Tiglath-Pileser.  He  was  obliged  to 
continue  warfare  in  Palestine.  In  the  year  720 
B.  C.  there  occurred  a  general  revolt  of  the 
countries  from  Hamath  to  the  Egyptian  border, 


I3O       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

which  had  but  shortly  before  been  subjected  by 
Assyria. 

And  now  Shabaka  finally  prepared  for  armed 
intervention.  But  the  whole  coalition  was  dis- 
persed by  Sargon,  the  Egyptians  were  defeated 
at  Eaphia  southward  from  Gaza,  and  when,  five 
years  later,  Sargon  returned  to  these  regions  the 
Egyptians  hastened  to  lay  tribute  at  his  feet, — 
the  decadent  empire  of  the  Pharaohs  was  no 
match  for  the  rising  power  of  Assyria,  and  the 
time  was  past  for  Egypt  to  pursue  an  inter- 
national policy.  Its  only  resort  was  to  plot  and 
instigate  in  order  if  possible  to  derive  some  ques- 
tionable advantage  from  the  dissensions  of  others. 
These  conditions  were  characterized  most  drasti- 
cally by  Isaiah  in  the  words  he  applies  to  Egypt, 
"  blustering  and  doing  nothing,"*  that  is,  making 
a  mighty  clanking  with  the  sword  and  finally 
when  matters  become  serious  refusing  to  draw. 

In  the  year  715  B.  C.  King  Ahaz  died  and  was 
followed  by  his  son  Hezekiah.  Ahaz  had  persisted 
steadfastly  until  the  end  in  his  voluntary  sub- 
ordination to  Assyria,  and  thus  secured  for 
his  country  twenty  years  of  unbroken  peace. 
Hezekiah  was  differently  constituted.  Even 
from  the  descriptions  of  the  tradition,  which 

*  The  passage  referred  to  is  Is.  xxx.  7,  which  Prof.  Cornill 
translates  :  Ldrmen  und  Sitzeribleiben.  This  is  the  literal  ren- 
dering of  the  traditional  Hebrew  text,  the  meaning  of  which 
is  precisely  that  of  the  English  "  to  bark  and  not  to  bite." 
The  Polychrome  Bible  translates  on  the  basis  of  a  conjecture. 
*•  Whose  help  is  but  vapor  and  emptiness." 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        131 

greatly  favors  and  glorifies  him  we  derive  the 
impression  that  he  was  an  undecided,  vacillating 
character,  easily  influenced  and  partial  to  great 
plans,  hut  just  as  easily  discouraged  and  dispirited. 
Under  him  the  national  party  again  came  to  the 
surface,  regarding  the  dependency  upon  Assyria 
as  a  disgrace  and  disposed  to  use  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  regain  their  former  independence.  The 
danger  became  so  great  that  Isaiah  went  about 
for  three  years  in  the  humiliating  garb  of  a  mili- 
tary captive,  as  a  standing  warning  that  such 
would  be  the  fate  of  all  enemies  of  Assyria. 

In  the  year  711  B.C.  especially  the  situation 
became  critical.  In  Ashdod  a  certain  Yaman  had 
expelled  the  Assyrian  vassal  king  Achimiz,  and 
raised  the  standard  of  rebellion  ;  according  to  the 
report  of  Sargon  he  had  entered  into  the  plots 
with  Judah,  Edom,  and  Moab.  But  the  Assyrian 
army  made  a  swift  end  of  this  war  of  liberation. 
When  he  recognized  that  his  cause  was  lost  Yaman 
fled  to  Egypt,  but  was  delivered  to  Sargon  in 
chains  by  the  Pharaoh, — with  this  disgraceful  act 
Egypt  with  her  own  hand  effaced  her  name  from 
the  list  of  first-class  powers. 

During  the  life  of  Sargon  we  hear  no  more  of 
disturbances  in  Palestine.  But  in  Y05  B.  C.  the 
great  king  died  suddenly  a  violent  death,  mur- 
dered, it  appears,  by  his  son  and  successor,  Sen- 
nacherib. This  was  the  signal  for  revolt  and  re- 
bellion in  the  whole  extent  of  the  great  empire, 
for  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  second  Sargon 


132        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

would  follow  the  murdered  king,  and  fear  and 
submission  had  been  due  alone  to  the  person  of 
Sargon.  The  threads  of  conspiracy  run  from 
Babylon  to  the  Nile.  The  Book  of  Kings  informs 
us  that  there  came  to  Hezekiah  an  embassy  from 
the  Babylonian  king,  Merodach-baladan,  to  whom 
Hezekiah  showed  all  his  armories  and  treasures  : 
this  embassy  must  have  come  in  the  first  year  of 
the  reign  of  Sennacherib  (704  B.  C.),  in  order  to 
win  Hezekiah  as  an  ally,  for  in  the  very  begin- 
ning of  the  year  703  B.C.  Sennacherib  threw  him- 
self with  all  his  might  upon  Babylon  and  expelled 
Merodach-baladan. 

Furthermore  Isaiah  gives  us  a  vivid  description 
of  an  embassy  of  tall,  bronzed  Ethiopians,  who 
also  came  to  Jerusalem  with  the  evident  purpose 
of  forming  an  alliance  against  Assyria.  In  the 
year  704  B.  C.  the  young  and  vigorous  Tirhakah 
had  become  king  of  the  Ethiopians  and  had  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  Egypt  with  him.  Now  with 
two  such  great  powers  as  support,  there  was  no 
stopping  the  movement.  All  the  Phoenician  and 
Philistine  rulers,  Edom,  Moab,  Ammon  and 
Judah  were  in  outspoken  rebellion.  King  Padi 
of  Ekron,  who  remained  loyal  to  the  Assyrians, 
was  taken  prisoner  by  his  own  people  and  brought 
in  chains  to  Hezekiah  at  Jerusalem,  in  order  that 
the  latter  might  hold  him  in  safekeeping.  This 
shows  how  general  was  the  confidence  in  the  im- 
pregnable position  of  Jerusalem. 

In  one  of  his  most  powerful  and  most  stirring 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        133 

appeals  Isaiah  describes  half  in  fierce  mockery, 
half  with  bleeding  heart,  the  delirium  of  heroism 
and  warlike  enthusiasm  that  seized  upon  Judah 
on  this  occasion  :  he  sees  these  holiday  troops  al- 
ready dispersed  and  scattered  to  the  winds,  cap- 
tured without  the  shooting  of  an  arrow.  And  all 
too  soon  it  became  manifest  how  justly  Isaiah 
had  judged  his  people. 

In  the  year  701  B.  C.  Sennacherib  moved  with 
the  whole  force  of  his  kingdom  against  the  rebels, 
and  the  petty  kingdoms  sank  one  after  the  other 
like  barley  blades  before  the  sickle.  The  very 
beginning  of  the  attack  brought  the  whole  coast 
of  Phosnicia  and  Philistia  to  terms.  Then  Heze- 
kiah  too  lost  courage.  "And  Hezekiah,"  so  the 
Book  of  Kings  reports,  "  sent  to  the  king  of  As- 
syria to  Lachish,  saying  :  '  I  have  offended !  Re- 
turn from  me  ;  that  which  thou  puttest  on  me 
will  I  bear.'  And  the  king  of  Assyria  appointed 
unto  Hezekiah  three  hundred  talents  of  silver  and 
thirty  talents  of  gold.  And  Hezekiah  gave  him 
all  the  silver  that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord  and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king's  house. 
And  he  even  had  all  the  gold  stripped  from  the 
doors  and  pillars  of  the  temple,  and  gave  it  to  the 
king  of  Assyria." 

Further  King  Sennacherib  informs  us  that 
Hezekiah  set  free  King  Padi  of  Ekron,  whom  he 
held  captive,  and  delivered  over  to  him  his 
daughters  and  the  women  of  his  household. 
Gladly  we  would  doubt  this  statement.  But  it  is 


134       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

not  possible  ;  we  are  really  obliged  to  believe  that 
Hezekiah  made  a  contribution  of  his  own  flesh  and 
blood  to  the  harem  of  the  mighty  Assyrian  mon- 
arch. It  was  not  possible  to  humble  himself  more 
deeply  before  Sennacherib.  But  the  situation 
soon  changed.  The  combined  Ethiopian  and 
Egyptian  forces  actually  began  to  advance,  and 
now  it  appeared  to  Sennacherib  hazardous  to  leave 
in  his  rear  an  unreliable  vassal  like  Hezekiah  in 
such  an  important  strategic  position  as  Jerusa- 
lem. Therefore  he  now  demanded  the  surrender 
of  the  capital  and  the  acceptance  of  an  Assyrian 
garrison. 

But  now  Hezekiah  remained  firm  :  he  could 
not  consent  to  this.  According  to  the  account  of 
the  Book  of  Kings  it  was  chiefly  the  prophet  Isa- 
iah who  urged  him  to  hold  out,  promising  him 
most  positively  that  the  Assyrian  would  not  send 
a  single  arrow  into  Jerusalem,  but  would  return 
again  the  way  he  had  come.  And  contrary  to 
all  expectation  this  bold  prophecy  was  fulfilled. 

The  immediate  results  of  Hezekiah's  refusal 
were  indeed  terrible  for  the  land.  The  Assyrian 
captured  forty-six  walled  cities,  and  countless  for- 
tresses and  smaller  places,  devastated  the  land 
systematically,  and  took  two  hundred  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  and  all  the  cattle 
as  booty  to  Assyria.  He  himself  reports  that  he 
at  least  undertook  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  this.  But  he  did  not 
accomplish  his  object.  The  final  result  of  this 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.          135 

undertaking  is  veiled  in  obscurity.  At  El  Tekeh, 
on  the  border  between  Judah  and  Philistia,  Sen- 
nacherib came  upon  the  combined  Egyptian  and 
Ethiopian  armies,  and  defeated  them  completely. 

Several  Egyptian  princes  and  a  considerable 
number  of  the  enemy's  highest  officers  were  made 
captives  by  the  Assyrians.  Sennacherib  pursued 
the  retreating  hosts  and  had  doubtless  already 
determined  upon  an  advance  into  Egypt,  but  was 
compelled  to  turn  back  on  the  Egyptian  border. 
Herodotus  was  told  by  the  Egyptians  that  an 
army  of  mice  attacked  the  Assyrian  army  in  the 
night,  destroying  all  the  leather  of  their  equip- 
ment and  weapons,  thus  disabling  the  army  of 
Sennacherib. 

The  Bible  account  also  tells  of  a  great  catas- 
trophe that  befell  Sennacherib  :  "  The  angel  of 
the  Lord  went  forth  in  the  night  and  smote  in 
the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  an  hundred  four-score 
and  five  thousand. "  At  any  rate  the  great  expedi- 
tion came  to  naught.  It  is  possible  that  a  threat- 
ening turn  of  affairs  in  Babylon  urgently  de- 
manded Sennacherib's  presence  at  home  and 
hastened  his  return.  Before  going  he  assigned 
all  the  cities  of  Judah  to  his  loyal  Philistine  vas- 
sals and  returned  to  Nineveh.  He  never  saw 
Palestine  again.  Jerusalem  was  indeed  saved, 
but  in  what  a  condition  ?  The  prophet  Isaiah  shall 
tell  us  : 

"Your  country  is  desolate  ; 
Your  cities  are  burned  with  fire  ; 


136       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Your  land, — strangers  devour  it  in  your  presence, 
And  the  daughter  of  Zion  is  left  as  a  booth  in  a  vineyard, 
As  a  lodge  in  a  garden  of  cucumbers, 
As  a  besieged  city. 

Except  the  Lord  of  Hosts  had  left  unto  us  a  very  small  rem- 
nant, 

We  should  have  been  as  Sodom, 
We  should  have  been  like  unto  Gomorrah." 

Of  the  next  hundred  years  we  know  almost 
nothing.  For  the  history  of  Israelitish  religion, 
it  is  true,  scarcely  any  other  period  is  so  significant 
and  important  as  this  very  seventh  century  :  yet 
concerning  the  secular  history  we  know  but  little. 
The  Book  of  Kings  goes  on  to  tell  that  Hezekiah 
drove  the  Philistines  beyond  Gaza  :  so  he  evi- 
dently succeeded  in  regaining  those  portions  of  his 
territory  which  had  been  separated  from  Judah 
by  Sennacherib  and  promised  to  the  neighboring 
Philistine  kings.  But  we  are  obliged  to  infer  that 
he  returned  to  his  former  dependence  upon 
Assyria  and  sent  his  yearly  tribute  to  Nineveh 
afterwards  as  before,  for  his  son  and  successor, 
Manasseh,  appears  always  and  everywhere  in  the 
ranks  of  the  tributary  vassals  of  Assyria. 

Of  Manasseh  we  know  only  that  he  was  twelve 
years  old  when  he  ascended  the  throne,  that 
he  ruled  fifty-five  years,  that  he  persecuted 
the  prophets  with  fire  and  sword,  and  filled 
Jerusalem  with  the  blood  of  the  innocent.  His 
son  and  successor,  Amon,  was  murdered  in  the 
second  year  of  his  reign  by  a  conspiracy  in  his 
own  household,  but  the  people  slew  the  con- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        137 

spirators  and  placed  upon  the  throne  Josiah,  the 
eight-year-old  son  of  the  murdered  king.  And 
here  a  ray  of  light  falls  upon  the  history  of  Israel : 
Josiah,  from  all  that  we  know  of  him,  must  have 
been  a  good  and  noble  character,  who  took  his 
duties  as  regent  seriously,  ruled  with  justice  and 
mildness,  and  was  a  father  to  his  subjects.  His 
contemporary,  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  bears  the 
best  of  testimony  for  him,  and  the  Book  of  Kings 
praises  him  as  a  second  David  ;  but  unfortunately 
we  have  no  details  regarding  his  reign. 

The  ninety  years  which  we  have  just  hastily  cov- 
ered include  the  greatest  splendor  and  the  greatest 
power  of  the  Assyrian  Empire  as  well  as  its  sudden 
end.  The  wild  and  barbarous  Sennacherib  was 
murdered,  681,  B.C.,  by  two  of  his  sons,  who  thus 
avenged  his  act  of  parricide,  but  the  throne  was 
not  their  reward.  Another  son,  Esarhaddon,  who 
had  evidently  been  selected  by  Sennacherib  for 
the  succession,  marched  against  his  brothers  and 
was  generally  recognized  as  king.  He  was  des- 
tined to  attain  the  utmost  goal  of  Assyrian  ambi- 
tion and  conquer  Egypt. 

Tirhakah  still  kept  up  his  interference  in  Pales- 
tine in  order  to  stir  up  revolts.  Therefore  Esar- 
haddon determined  to  put  an  end  to  the  matter  : 
he  entered  Egypt  in  670,  B.C.,  defeated  Tirhakah 
completely  and  subdued  the  whole  country,  and 
Tirhakah  withdrew  into  his  native  Ethiopia.  Thus 
Egypt  also  became  an  Assyrian  province,  and  re- 
mained so  a  considerable  length  of  time.  Under 


138       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Asurbanipal  who  ascended  the  Assyrian  throne, 
668,  B.  C.,  came  the  turning-point.  Outwardly, 
indeed,  the  empire  is  more  brilliant  and  more 
powerful  than  before,  but  within  are  seen  already 
unequivocal  signs  of  dissolution.  Asurbanipal 
continued,  indeed,  to  wage  wars,  more  cruel  and 
bloody  than  any  of  his  predecessors  ;  but  he  him- 
self no  longer  appears  in  the  field.  On  the  con- 
trary he  has  the  captive  enemies  and  rebels  brought 
to  Nineveh,  there  to  feast  his  eyes  upon  their  tor- 
ture and  death,  pursuing  in  the  intervals  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  chase  and  the  harem — he  is  the  Sarda- 
napalus  of  the  Greeks — and  incidentally  showing 
an  active  interest  in  art  and  science.  In  his  palace 
he  establishes  an  immense  library,  into  which  he 
gathers  all  that  could  be  found  of  Babylonian  and 
Assyrian  literature. 

It  deserves  attention,  and  is  the  evidence  of  a 
very  unusual  personality,  that  no  one  through- 
out his  reign  of  forty- two  years  ventured  to  con- 
test the  throne  with  this  unwarlike  monarch. 
Nevertheless  the  beginning  of  the  end  was  at  hand. 
Egypt  seems  to  have  freed  itself  soon  from  As- 
syrian domination,  and  enters  upon  a  new  period 
of  political  and  national  progress  in  the  long  and 
prosperous  reign  of  Psammetichus  I.  In  the 
Aryan  mountaineers,  the  Medes,  a  dangerous 
enemy,  arise  in  the  rear  of  Nineveh,  and  at  the 
same  time  another  fearful  storm  sweeps  over  all 
Asia.  From  the  north,  the  countries  about  the 
Black  Sea,  hordes  of  predatory  horsemen,  similar 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        139 

in  nature  to  the  later  Huns  and  Mongolians,  in- 
vade the  civilized  countries  of  Asia,  marching 
through  and  plundering  them  for  about  thirty 
years  :  Herodotus  calls  them  Cimmerians.  As  a 
matter  of  course  all  political  ties  were  loosened  by 
this,  and  the  Assyrian  Empire  was  shaken  to  its 
foundation. 

Now  Phraortes,  king  of  the  Medes,  considered 
the  time  come  to  venture  an  attack  upon  Nineveh  ; 
but  he  was  utterly  defeated  and  met  his  own  death 
in  the  undertaking.  His  son,  Cyaxares,  proposed 
to  avenge  his  father,  and  already  had  assailed  and 
besieged  Nineveh  when  an  invasion  of  the  Cim- 
merians into  his  own  country  recalled  him  and 
relieved  Nineveh.  But  this  was  only  a  stay  of 
execution.  About  fifteen  years  later  Cyaxares 
united  with  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon,  for  a 
final  blow  at  the  Assyrian  Empire,  of  whose  last 
two  kings  we  do  not  even  know  the  exact  names. 
After  a  siege  of  three  years  Nineveh  was  taken 
and  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  whole  nation 
obliterated.  This  took  place  in  the  year  606  B.C., 
just  twenty  years  after  the  death  of  the  mighty 
Asurbanipal. 

The  whole  history  of  the  world  shows  no  catas- 
trophe equal  to  the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian 
Empire  ;  no  nation  was  ever  so  completely  de- 
stroyed as  the  Assyrian, — a  just  retribution  for 
the  abominations  which  it  had  perpetrated  for 
centuries.  The  two  victors  divided  the  spoil,  the 
lion's  share  falling  to  Media. 


140       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

But  meanwhile  a  third  rival  had  arisen.  In 
Egypt  Necho,  son  of  Psammetichus,  had  ascended 
the  throne  of  the  Pharaohs  in  610.  This  enter- 
prising and  restless  monarch  also  wanted  to  secure 
his  share  of  the  Assyrian  spoil,  and  set  out  for 
the  Euphrates  with  a  mighty  army  in  608  B.  C. 
King  Josiah  of  Judah  tried  to  arrest  him  but 
was  utterly  defeated  at  Megiddo  and  himself 
mortally  wounded.  The  people,  who  knew  well 
what  they  had  to  expect  of  the  crown-prince 
Jehoiakim,  made  Jehoahaz,  the  younger  son  of 
the  deceased,  king  in  his  father's  stead.  But  only 
three  months  had  passed  when  Necho  summoned 
the  young  man  before  his  tribunal  at  Riblah  and 
sent  him  in  bonds  to  Egypt.  He  punished  the 
people  for  their  arbitrary  action  by  a  heavy  tax, 
and  put  Jehoiakim  upon  the  throne  at  Jerusalem 
as  an  Egyptian  vassal. 

But  the  Egyptian  glory  was  not  to  last  long  ;  a 
year  after  the  destruction  of  Nineveh  the  Baby- 
lonian crown  prince,  Nebuchadnezzar,  met  the 
Egyptians  at  Carchemish  on  the  Euphrates,  and 
Necho  was  so  completely  defeated  that  he  sought 
safety  in  wild  flight.  Nebuchadnezzar  followed 
closely  after  him,  but  was  overtaken  by  the  news 
of  the  death  of  his  father,  Nabopolassar,  so  that 
his  presence  at  home  became  absolutely  necessary. 
Accordingly  he  made  peace  with  Necho,  who 
ceded  to  Babylon  all  his  conquests  in  Asia  as  far 
as  the  Egyptian  border  in  consideration  of  being 
allowed  to  return  to  his  country  unmolested. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.         141 

Thus  Jehoiakim  of  Judah  had  been  transformed 
from  an  Egyptian  vassal  into  a  Babylonian.  His 
policy  was  prescribed  by  his  ciru  instances  :  uncon- 
ditioned submission  to  Babylon.  But  he  would 
none  of  this,  and  rebelled  against  his  feudal 
lord.  At  first  Nebuchadnezzar  did  not  consider 
it  worth  the  while  to  go  himself,  but  stirred  up 
the  neighboring  peoples  against  the  unhappy  land. 
In  the  midst  of  this  situation  Jehoiakim  died. 
His  eighteen-year-old  son,  Jehoiachin,  entered  up- 
on an  evil  inheritance,  and  had  to  atone  for  his 
father's  sins.  After  a  reign  of  three  months  he 
was  forced  to  capitulate  and  surrender  to  the 
Chaldeans  without  conditions.  Nebuchadnezzar 
took  the  treasures  of  the  temple  and  the  palace 
with  him  and  led  the  young  king  and  ten  thou- 
sand of  the  best  inhabitants,  the  whole  aristoc- 
racy of  birth  and  intellect,  into  exile  in  Babylon, 
where  Jehoiachin  himself  was  kept  in  close  con- 
finement. But  Nebuchadnezzar  made  one  more 
attempt  with  a  native  ruler  and  placed  Zedekiah, 
the  full  brother  of  Jehoahaz,  who  had  formerly 
been  chosen  by  the  people,  and  an  uncle  of  the 
captive  Jehoiachin,  upon  the  throne  in  Jerusalem 
as  a  Babylonian  vassal  prince.  This  took  place 
in  597  B.  C.  Before  four  years  of  Zedekiah's 
reign  had  passed  Jerusalem  was  again  filled  with 
discontent,  and  there  were  plots  which  however 
finally  came  to  nothing.  Of  course  the  matter 
could  not  remain  concealed  from  the  Babylonian 
government  and  the  seriously  compromised  Zed- 


142        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

ekiah  went  in  person  to  Babylon,  but  came  off 
cheap  and  conducted  himself  discreetly  for  the 
next  five  years.  The  misfortune  brought  it  about 
that  the  restless  and  aggressive  Uahabra  (Apries, 
the  Hophra  of  the  Bible)  ascended  the  throne  of 
the  Pharaohs  and  immediately  resumed  the  policy 
of  his  grandfather,  Necho.  So  all  eyes  were 
turned  longingly  toward  the  Nile,  whence  the  lib- 
erator from  Babylonian  subjection  was  expected. 
Uahabra  promised  assistance,  and  Zedekiah  could 
no  longer  resist  the  pressure  :  he  actually  rebelled, 
and  thus  the  fate  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem  was 
sealed. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  587,B.C.,  the  Chaldeans 
began  to  besiege  Jerusalem  ;  but  Uahabra  kept 
his  word :  a  mighty  Egyptian  army  started  for 
Palestine,  and  the  Chaldeans  withdrew.  The  re- 
joicing in  Jerusalem  knew  no  bounds.  But  the 
prophets  of  evil  were  justified :  the  Chaldeans  re- 
turned, and  after  a  resistance  conducted  with  the 
heroism  of  despair,  when  the  most  terrible  famine 
was  already  raging  in  Jerusalem,  such  that 
women  were  devouring  their  own  children,  the 
city  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Chaldeans,  on  the 
9th  of  July,  586,  B.  C.  In  the  first  confusion 
Zedekiah  escaped  with  a  few  attendants,  but  was 
overtaken  and  brought  before  the  tribunal  of 
Nebuchadnezzar  at  Riblah.  But  now  Nebuchad- 
nezzar knew  no  such  word  as  mercy.  All  the  cap- 
tive nobles  were  executed  and  Zedekiah's  children 
were  all  butchered  before  the  eyes  of  the  wretched 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        143 

father.  That  was  the  last  thing  he  was  ever  to 
see,  for  he  himself  was  blinded  and  taken  to 
Babylon  in  chains,  where  he  declined  and  perished 
miserably  in  prison.  Thus  ended  the  last  descend- 
ant of  David  that  had  ruled  in  Jerusalem. 

The  city  itself  was  looted  and  then  given  over 
to  the  flames  ;  the  whole  people  that  had  escaped 
hunger  and  the  sword  was  led  into  exile  at  Bab- 
ylon. "  Only  of  the  poorest  of  the  land  did 
they  leave  some  in  Judah  as  vinedressers  and 
husbandmen.  "  Over  this  miserable  remnant  was 
set  a  certain  Gedaliah  as  Babylonian  prefect ;  but 
when  Gedaliah  perished  soon  after  by  the  hand  of 
a  murderer,  those  who  had  remained  in  Judah 
fled  to  Egypt  from  fear  of  the  vengeance  of  the 
Chaldeans,  and  there  they  vanished  and  left  no 
trace.  Edomites  and  other  neighbors  spread  over 
the  unclaimed  land — Judah  had  ceased  to  be. 

If  Israel  had  been  merely  a  race  like  others  it 
would  never  have  survived  this  fearful  catastrophe 
and  would  have  disappeared  in  the  Babylonian 
exile.  But  Israel  was  the  bearer  of  an  idea  ;  this 
was  not  to  be  annihilated  with  the  state,  and  its 
eternal  destiny  was  not  closed  with  its  political 
life.  On  the  contrary.  It  seems  as  though  only 
now,  when  the  body  was  dashed  to  pieces,  was  the 
spirit  really  able  to  develop  unhampered.  The 
death  that  Judah  died  was  a  death  suffused  with 
dawn.  While  its  sun  seemed  set  in  eternal  night, 
already  in  the  east  new  day  was  breaking,  des- 
tined in  the  fulness  of  time  to  illumine  the  whole 


144       HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

world  with  its  light.  Israel  went  down  to  the 
grave  with  the  hope  of  early  resurrection,  and  this 
hope  was  not  disappointed.  Forty-nine  years 
after  Nebuzaradan,  the  Babylonian  captain  of  the 
guard,  set  fire  to  city  and  temple,  a  burnt  offering 
from  those  who  had  returned  to  the  fatherland 
was  again  smoking  to  the  God  of  Israel  on  the  spot 
where  the  brazen  altar  of  Solomon  had  stood. 
The  flame  that  had  consumed  Jerusalem  was  for 
Judah  a  purifying  fire ;  from  the  seed -field  of  the 
exile  sown  in  tears  was  to  spring  up  a  precious 
and  immortal  harvest. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        14$ 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FROM  THE  RETURN  OUT  OF  THE  BABYLONIAN  CAP- 

TIVITY TO  THE  OUTBREAK  OF  THE  REBEL- 

LION OF  THE  MACCABEES. 


history  of  the  people  of  Israel  begins  with 
-•-  the  migration  of  Abraham  from  the  Euphrates 
to  the  Jordan  ;  it  closes,  one  may  say  in  a  certain 
sense,  with  the  compulsory  migration  of  the  exiles 
from  the  Jordan  back  to  the  Euphrates.  The  Bab- 
ylonian exile  constitutes  the  crisis  in  the  history 
of  the  people  of  Israel  from  both  the  political  and 
the  religious  standpoint.  Politically  and  nation- 
ally the  Babylonian  captivity  put  an  end  for  ever 
to  the  people  of  Israel.  Even  when,  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  later,  there  was  once  more  a 
Jewish  state,  those  who  formed  it  were  not  the 
people  of  Israel,  not  even  the  Jewish  nation,  but 
that  portion  which  remained  in  the  mother  coun- 
try of  a  great  religious  organization  scattered 
over  all  Asia  and  Egypt.  It  would  on  this  ac- 
count be  technically  correct  to  entitle  the  second 
part  of  our  theme,  which  is  to  occupy  us  in  the 
last  five  chapters,  simply  Jewish  history,  or  history 
of  the  Jewish  people.  Yet  still  more  tremendous 
is  the  change  which  the  Babylonian  exile  produced 


146       HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

in  the  religious  life  of  Israel,  though  indeed  the 
two  are  most  intimately  and  inherently  connected. 
The  very  overthrow  of  the  Judean  state  and  the 
destruction  of  the  national  life  had  the  effect  of 
entirely  reconstructing  the  religion  of  Israel. 
Even  in  the  last  periods  of  Judean  independence 
there  had  been  evolving  a  movement  which  had 
for  its  aim  to  spiritualize  religion  as  much  as  pos- 
sible. In  order  to  guard  it  against  growing 
worldly  and  to  avoid  with  all  care  the  danger  of 
sullying  its  purity,  the  leaders  in  this  movement 
had  aimed  at  separating  religion  from  its  foun- 
dation in  nature  and  basing  it  absolutely  upon 
itself  and  the  spirit. 

This  was  a  dispensation  of  Providence ;  for  thus 
it  became  possible  for  the  religion  of  Israel  to 
survive  the  fall  of  the  state  and  the  destruction  of 
the  nation,  and  yet  to  preserve  them  both  by  re- 
constructing them.  If  the  destruction  of  the 
body  had  freed  the  spirit  and  given  it  an  unham- 
pered career,  this  spirit  must  needs  shape  for  itself 
a  new  body.  And  Israel  could  constitute  this  new 
body  only  if  it  developed  in  accordance  with  the 
demands  of  this  spirit.  No  one  felt  this  more 
clearly  and  no  one  expressed  it  more  distinctly 
than  the  Great  Unknown  of  the  last  years  of  the 
Babylonian  exile,  whom  we  are  accustomed  to  call 
Deutero-Isaiah,  because  his  writings  are  trans- 
mitted to  us  as  the  second  portion  of  the  book  of 
Isaiah.  This  Deutero-Isaiah  announced  the  uni- 
versal mission  of  the  religion  of  Israel  more 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        147 

grandly  than  any  one  else  :  Israel  is  set  for  a  light 
of  the  heathen  ;  it  is  called  to  carry  the  revelation 
of  God  to  the  whole  world  even  to  the  ultimate 
islands,  the  house  of  the  God  of  Israel  shall  be- 
come a  house  of  prayer  for  all  nations  ;  but  in 
order  to  be  able  to  fulfil  this  mission  God  must 
first  make  of  Israel  itself  a  covenant.  Israel  must 
become  a  covenant  nation  ;  that  is,  after  Israel 
had  broken  the  covenant  and  therefore  perished 
as  a  nation,  it  must  become  a  new  people  which 
will  identify  itself  with  the  covenant,  or  league 
with  God,  and  which  is  resurrected  and  remains 
alive  only  for  and  through  it.  Quite  literally  the 
ground  had  been  snatched  from  beneath  the  feet 
of  the  nation,  which  was  therefore  obliged  to  seek 
another  ground  and  foundation,  and  this  was 
necessarily  religious.  Thus  religion  became  one 
with  this  nationality  which  completely  subor- 
dinated itself  to  religion  and  proposed  to  be  noth- 
ing but  its  body  and  mouthpiece. 

With  correct  instinct,  guided  by  the  prophet 
Ezekiel,  the  religious  genius  of  Israel  laid  its  uni- 
versal mission  upon  God  for  the  time  being,  and 
took  up  the  immediately  more  urgent  task  of  get- 
ting the  mastery  in  its  own  house,  of  driving 
ineradicable  roots  in  Israel  itself.  And  accord- 
ingly there  is  accomplished  in  the  Babylonian 
exile,  and  as  a  consequence  of  it,  that  remarkable 
transformation  which  makes  of  the  Judean  state 
a  Jewish  church,  of  the  Israelitish  people  a  Jewish 
religious  congregati on.  For  the  history  of  religion 


148       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

there  is  perhaps  no  other  period  in  the  history  of 
the  people  of  Israel  of  equal  importance  and  sig- 
nificance with  the  half  century  of  the  Babylonian 
exile,  from  586  to  537  B.  C. 

But  from  the  standpoint  of  secular  history  we 
know  nothing  of  Israel  in  this  period  :  its  for- 
tunes are  those  of  the  Babylonian  Empire.  This 
empire  with  such  a  brilliant  beginning  was  not 
destined  to  enjoy  length  of  days.  It  depended  on 
the  person  of  its  founder,  Nebuchadnezzar. 
When  this  mighty  monarch  died,  on  the  27th  of 
March,  561  B.C.  after  a  reign  of  forty-three  years, 
the  star  of  Babylon  set.  The  empire  maintained 
itself  only  twenty-three  years  longer,  under  four 
short-reigned  kings,  two  of  whom  died  by  the 
hands  of  assassins,  and  then  the  Persian  king, 
Cyrus,  put  a  sudden  end  to  it. 

After  the  overthrow  of  Assyria,  the  most  ex- 
tensive empire  remaining  was  Media,  to  which 
indeed  the  lion's  share  of  the  spoils  of  Assyria 
had  fallen.  True,  the  two  allies  against  Assyria 
had  connected  themselves  by  marriage,  Nebu- 
chadnezzar marrying  Amytis,  the  daughter  of 
Cyaxares.  Nevertheless,  Nebuchadnezzar  recog- 
nized clearly  the  danger  that  impended  from  this 
neighbor,  and  the  immense  fortifications  of  his 
capital  and  of  his  whole  country,  constructed  by 
Nebuchadnezzar,  could  have  no  other  purpose 
than  to  protect  his  empire  against  Media,  as  in- 
deed they  were  called  "  the  Median  wall."  And 
when  in  the  year  585  B.C.  he  made  every  effort 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.       149 

to  mediate  between  his  father-in-law  and  Alyattes 
of  Lydia,  and  thus  to  maintain  the  Lydian  king- 
dom, he  was  guided  by  the  desire  not  to  let  Media 
become  too  powerful. 

But  destiny  had  already  provided  that  the 
Median  tree  should  not  reach  the  skies.  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's brother-in-law,  Astyages,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father  Cyaxares  in  584  B.C.,  was  not 
the  man  to  give  his  realm  added  glory  ;  after  he 
had  ruled  thirty- four  years,  Cyrus,  the  Median 
vassal  king  of  the  powerful  and  vigorous  race  of 
the  Persians,  made  himself  independent,  defeated 
the  Median  army  and  captured  the  capital,  Ecba- 
tana,  in  the  year  550  B.C. 

In  Babylon  they  probably  rejoiced  at  first  over 
the  downfall  of  Media,  but  they  were  to  learn 
only  too  soon  what  a  bad  exchange  they  had 
made. 

As  general,  king,  and  man,  Cyrus  is  the  great- 
est personality  and  the  noblest  figure  in  the  an- 
cient history  of  the  Orient.  In  but  twelve  years, 
with  his  handful  of  Persians,  he  destroyed  for- 
ever three  great  empires,  conquered  all  Asia,  and 
secured  to  his  race  for  two  centuries  the  dominion 
of  the  world  :  with  him  the  hegemony  over  Asia 
passes  from  the  Semitic  to  the  Indo-Germanic 
races. 

The  formidableness  of  the  new  rival  was  soon 
recognized,  and  in  the  year  547  B.  C.  a  great 
coalition  was  formed  between  Lydia,  Babylonia, 
and  Egypt,  which  was  also  joined  by  Sparta,  for 


I5O       HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

the  purpose  of  stifling  in  its  beginnings  the  am- 
bitious and  growing  empire  of  Cyrus.  Croesus 
of  Lydia  began  operations  in  the  spring  of  546 
B.  C.  and  made  a  hostile  demonstration  toward 
Persia ;  but  Cyrus  fell  upon  him  at  the  first 
approach,  followed  on  his  heels  as  he  retreated, 
and  captured  Sardis,  the  Lydian  capital,  in  the 
autumn  of  the  same  year  taking  Croesus  captive  : 
the  kingdom  of  Lydia  had  ceased  to  be. 

Why  Babylon  was  then  given  a  respite  of  eight 
years,  and  how  the  quarrel  finally  broke  forth, 
we  do  not  know ;  but  on  the  3rd  of  November, 
538  B.  C.,  Cyrus  held  his  triumphal  entry  into 
Babylon,  and  therewith  the  empire  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar also  had  ceased  to  be. 

With  what  enthusiasm  the  Jewish  exiles  greeted 
the  victorious  Persian  king  as  avenger  and  liber- 
ator, the  contemporary  Hebrew  literature  gives 
the  clearest  evidence.  And  in  fact,  it  was  one  of 
the  first  official  acts  of  the  new  ruler  in  Babylon 
to  give  the  Jewish  exiles  permission  to  return 
to  their  home,  and  to  encourage  in  every  way 
the  restoration  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth. 

Cyrus  could  have  had  in  this  only  political  mo- 
tives. A  clash  with  Egypt  was  inevitable,  and 
so  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  Persians  to  have 
on  the  Egyptian  border  a  commonwealth  that  was 
bound  to  their  ruling  family  by  the  strongest  ties 
of  gratitude,  and  upon  the  fidelity  of  which  they 
could  absolutely  rely. 

In  the  spring  of  537  B.  C.,    forty-nine  years 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.   !$! 

after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  exiles 
set  out,  about  fifty  thousand  souls  all  told. 
And  evidently  members  of  all  the  families  and 
groups  participated  in  the  migration.  They  felt 
that  they  were  representatives  of  all  Israel,  as  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  returning  emigrants 
were  under  the  authority  of  a  council  of  twelve 
responsible  men,  the  repeatedly  mentioned  "  elders 
of  the  Jews,"  a  number  which  can  have  been 
chosen  only  with  reference  to  the  number  of  the 
tribes  in  the  nation.  This  council  evidently  had 
the  whole  internal  control  and  the  guidance  of 
the  affairs  of  the  community,  for  which  the 
Persian  government  did  not  concern  itself.  First 
among  the  twelve  are  named  Zerubbabel,  grand- 
son of  king  Jehoiachin,  and  Jeshua,  grandson  of 
Seraiah,  the  last  priest  of  Solomon's  temple,  who 
had  been  executed  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  Shesh- 
bazzar,  who  is  repeatedly  mentioned  as  Persian 
govern  or- general  of  Judaea,  was,  by  the  likeliest 
supposition,  a  son  of  King  Jehoiachin  born  in 
Babylonia,  and  hence  most  probably  the  oldest,  to 
whom  the  Persians,  as  was  their  custom,  entrusted 
the  viceroyalty  of  his  people. 

On  the  site  of  the  great  brazen  altar  in  Solo- 
mon's temple  they  forthwith  set  up  a  new  altar, 
and  had  it  ready  to  celebrate  the  feast  of  taber- 
nacles in  5 37  B.C.,  with  an  offering  to  the  God  of 
Israel.  Voluntary  gifts  were  also  received  for 
the  expenses  of  the  religious  services  and  for  the 
proper  clothing  of  the  priests,  but  according  to 


I$2        HISTORY   OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

the  express  testimony  of  contemporary  accounts 
the  restoration  of  the  temple  was  not  immediately 
undertaken.  They  had  indeed  enough  to  do  to 
make  the  desolate  land  habitable  again  and  to 
restore  Jerusalem  as  far  as  necessity  commanded. 
About  one-tenth  of  the  returned  emigrants 
settled  in  Jerusalem,  the  remainder  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  Jerusalem, — the  report  that  the 
whole  territory  of  the  former  Kingdom  of  Judah 
was  occupied  at  the  very  beginning  is  in  itself 
improbable  to  a  high  degree,  and  is  entirely  con- 
tradictory to  the  impression  made  upon  us  by 
accredited  tradition. 

The  returned  exiles  held  themselves  strictly  and 
haughtily  aloof  from  the  remnants  of  the  former 
population  that  had  remained  in  the  country  ;  we 
read  frequently  of  the  value  that  was  put  upon 
pedigrees  and  the  proof  of  pure  stock. 

Of  the  next  seventeen  years  we  have  no  positive 
knowledge,  but  must  conclude  that  important 
events  occurred  within  the  priesthood  in  this 
period.  For  in  the  year  520  B.  0.  there  appears 
all  at  once  a  "high  priest"  in  the  person  of  the 
before-mentioned  Jeshua.  Even  Ezekiel  knows 
absolutely  nothing  of  a  high  priest ;  now  on  a  sud- 
den, he  is  present  and  very  soon  becomes  the  first 
personage  among  the  people,  crowding  into  the 
background  even  the  house  of  David.  We  know 
beyond  all  doubt  that  certain  things  did  happen 
within  the  priestly  class  during  these  years : 
several  families  which  could  not  prove  their  pedi- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        153 

grees  were  excluded  from  the  priesthood  for  the 
time  being,  and  yet  we  find  the  descendants  of 
these  families  mentioned  as  in  important  positions 
in  the  priesthood  eighty  years  later,  whence  it  ap- 
pears that  they  must  have  secured  admission 
after  all.  This  gives  us  a  significant  hint.  Ac- 
cording to  the  regulations  of  Ezekiel  only  the 
descendants  of  Zadok,  members  of  the  family  of 
the  priests  of  the  temple  in  Jerusalem,  were  to 
have  priestly  rights  after  the  restoration  of  the 
commonwealth  and  to  exercise  priestly  functions  ; 
but  it  was  not  possible  to  carry  this  out.  The 
very  number  of  the  immigrant  priests,  four  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  eighty-nine,  that  is,  one 
out  of  every  ten  free  men,  puzzles  us.  These 
cannot  all  have  been  of  the  family  of  Zadok,  or 
even  in  the  main  so.  Whence  it  appears  that 
it  had  been  necessary  to  establish  the  new  priest- 
hood on  a  broader  foundation  :  not  the  sons  of 
Zadok,  but  the  sons  of  Aaron  are  its  representa- 
tives, and  in  order  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  the 
house  of  Zadok  it  is  probable  that  the  high  priest- 
hood was  established  and  reserved  exclusively  to 
this  house. 

Finally  in  the  year  520  B.  C.  the  construction 
of  the  temple  was  begun.  Harvest  failures  and 
famine  burdened  the  country  ;  the  prophet  Hag- 
gai  declared  this  to  be  a  punishment  from  God 
because  the  people  were  dwelling  in  ceiled  houses 
while  the  house  of  God  lay  in  ruins.  He  was 
supported  by  another  prophet,  the  priest  Zechariah, 


154       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

who  worked  in  the  same  spirit.  So  the  work  was 
actually  begun  on  the  24th  of  September,  520 
B.C.,  and  on  the  24th  of  December  the  corner-stone 
was  laid  with  due  solemnities, — laid  by  the  David- 
ite  Zerubbabel,  who  had  succeeded  his  deceased 
uncle  Sheshbazzar  as  governor.  This  was  an  as- 
sumption of  privilege  on  the  part  of  the  congrega- 
tion ;  but  the  Persian  authority  was  at  the  time 
on  a  weak  footing  ;  almost  the  whole  empire  was 
in  revolt  against  the  new  king,  Darius.  The  sa- 
trap Tattenai,  who  was  ZerubbabePs  superior, 
saw  the  structure  while  on  a  tour  of  inspection, 
and  demanded  an  explanation.  He  reported  the 
circumstance  to  Darius,  but  Darius  sent  reply 
that  the  building  was  really  supported  by  a  per- 
mit from  Cyrus,  and  that  he  was  therefore  desir- 
ous to  see  the  work  aided  in  every  way.  And  in 
fact  it  was  possible  on  the  3d  of  March,  515  B.  C., 
after  four  and  a  half  years'  work,  to  celebrate 
the  completion  of  the  temple  and  solemnly  dedi- 
cate the  new  house  of  God. 

We  know  nothing  about  the  next  fifty-seven 
years.  Only  from  the  descriptions  of  the  book  of 
Malachi  we  can  infer  that  conditions  took  a  very 
critical  turn.  Lukewarmness  and  indifference, 
and  even  frivolous  mockery,  had  taken  the  place 
of  the  old  enthusiasm  ;  a  painful  disappointment 
had  taken  possession  of  men's  minds,  and  they 
tried  to  make  life  as  comfortable  and  agreeable  as 
possible  for  themselves  and  to  compromise  with 
their  religious  duties  in  the  easiest  and  cheapest 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        155 

way.  There  was,  indeed,  a  little  band  of  the 
genuinely  pious,  who  labored  only  the  more  seri- 
ously for  their  own  and  the  people's  spiritual  sal- 
vation ;  but  they  could  accomplish  nothing.  At 
this  crisis  aid  came  to  them  from  Babylon. 

The  closest  connection  and  the  most  lively  inter- 
course was  maintained  between  the  exiles  who 
had  returned  to  Jerusalem  and  those  who  re- 
mained in  Babylon,  so  that  these  received  reliable 
information  regarding  all  occurrences  in  the  old 
home.  The  development  had  proceeded  different- 
ly in  Babylon  ;  the  Jews  there,  without  anxiety 
for  their  existence,  and  not  compelled  to  wage  a 
severe  struggle  for  sustenance,  had  devoted  them- 
selves with  all  zeal  and  undivided  interest  to  the 
religious  problem  ;  and  they,  who  still  lived  in  a 
heathen  land,  were  called  upon  to  keep  their 
identity  as  Jews,  and  consciously  to  cultivate  and 
to  manifest  their  Judaism. 

Thus  there  had  developed  in  Babylon,  of  all 
places,  a  regular  theological  school,  which  pursued 
the  study  of  the  law  and  showed  also  a  marked 
literary  activity  ;  the  expansion  and  completion 
of  the  law  was  the  work  of  these  circles.  One  of 
the  most  prominent  among  them  was  Ezra,  like- 
wise a  descendant  of  Zadok  and  a  near  relative 
of  the  high  priest's  family  in  Jerusalem.  He  de- 
termined to  take  an  active  interest  in  this  por- 
tentous crisis.  He  succeeded,  how  we  do  not 
know,  in  interesting  King  Artaxerxes  Longhand 
in  his  plans  and  in  securing  an  autocratic  firman 


156       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

which  named  him  as  royal  commissioner  with 
unlimited  authority  to  reform  conditions  in  Je- 
rusalem. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  458  B.  C.,  the  caravan  as- 
sembled ;  there  were  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  men,  the  number  of  women  and  children  not 
being  given.  Ezra  had  refused  a  Persian  escort. 
After  preparing  themselves  by  fasting  and  prayer, 
the  train  set  out  on  the  12th  of  April  and  arrived 
safely  in  Jerusalem  on  the  1st  of  August,  There 
they  celebrated  a  great  thankoffering  to  God  for 
the  happily  completed  journey. 

Ezra  proceeded  immediately  to  his  work.  The 
most  important  point  was  that  of  the  mixed  mar- 
riages already  contracted.  In  the  revival  of  re- 
ligion and  nationality  these  presented  a  great 
difficulty  ;  if  the  national  identity  was  dimmed  or 
entirely  blotted  out  the  religion  also  would  inevit- 
ably perish  ;  then  indeed  Israel  would  be  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  heathen.  Therefore  it  was  nec- 
essary to  apply  the  knife  right  here,  and  to  show 
the  most  merciless  energy.  According  to  what 
Ezra  was  told  conditions  were  much  more  dis- 
couraging than  he  had  imagined  ;  even  the  priests 
and  the  Levites  turned  out  to  be  involved  in  the 
abuse  and  deeply  compromised. 

And  now  a  scene  is  played  which  has  been  com- 
pared not  unfairly  with  the  so-called  "  revivals  " 
of  the  English  Methodists ;  a  deep  religious  ex- 
citement is  aroused,  and  under  the  pressure  of 
this  temporary  excitement  the  participants  are  led 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        157 

into  resolutions  which  otherwise  they  would  have 
refused  to  make.  Ezra  rends  his  garments,  tears 
his  hair  and  beard,  and  as  though  paralyzed  by 
what  he  has  heard,  sits  stiff  and  silent  until  even- 
ing. A  great  circle  of  people  gathers  about  him, 
and  finally  toward  evening  he  arises,  throws  him- 
self upon  his  knees,  and  speaks  in  tears  a  long, 
loud  confession  which  paints  the  corruption  of 
the  people  in  the  blackest  colors. 

An  even  greater  circle  of  men,  women  and 
children  gathers  about  him,  and  all  break  out  in- 
to loud  weeping.  At  this  point  one  of  Ezra's 
sympathizers  speaks  in  the  name  of  the  assembly  : 
"  Yea,  we  have  all  sinned  grievously  !  Let  us 
make  a  solemn  vow  to  put  away  all  our  foreign 
wives  and  their  offspring  !  Ezra,  take  thou  the 
matter  in  hand  ;  we  will  be  with  thee."  Ezra 
strikes  the  iron  while  it  is  hot,  and  puts  all  those 
present  under  a  solemn  oath  straitway.  But 
this  did  not  settle  the  matter  ;  only  when  they 
began  to  enforce  the  plan  did  the  whole  difficulty 
of  it  appear.  It  is  true,  every  man  had  by  the 
law  the  right  to  put  away  his  wife,  and  we  must 
take  great  care  not  to  judge  these  occurrences  from 
our  point  of  view.  But  in  the  case  of  a  marriage 
prompted  by  love  and  blessed  with  fondly  cher- 
ished children,  it  could  not  but  be  regarded  as  a 
monstrous  proposal  to  put  away  wife  and  children 
absolutely  and  without  condition.  And  the  most 
serious  obstacle  was  found  in  the  most  respected 
circles  of  the  community.  These  had  formed 


158        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

many  alliances  with  the  neighboring  aristocracy 
and  with  the  Persian  officials,  and  to  send  back 
to  such  a  father-in-law  their  daughters  and  their 
children  was  not  to  be  thought  of  without  hesita- 
tion. 

And  so  it  is  almost  five  months  after  that  prayer- 
meeting  before  there  is  summoned  to  Jerusalem, 
on  the  20th  of  December,  458,  B.  C.,  a  popular  as- 
sembly at  which  every  male  member  of  the  fami- 
lies returned  from  the  captivity  was  ordered  to 
appear  under  penalty  of  excommunication.  There 
sat  the  whole  assembly  in  the  open  square  before 
the  temple,  trembling  with  excitement,  cold,  and 
rain,  and  when  Ezra  repeated  his  demand  the 
matter  was  treated  in  dilatory  fashion  ;  they  said 
it  was  too  important  and  weighty  a  matter  to  be 
settled  in  haste,  and  asked  that  a  commission 
under  the  leadership  of  Ezra  should  first  ascertain 
the  exact  condition  of  affairs  and  then  deal  with 
the  offenders  individually.  Four  adherents  of 
Ezra  protested,  it  is  true,  against  this  delay,  but 
the  proposal  was  accepted  ;  the  assembly  goes 
home,  and  Ezra  is  left  to  see  what  he  can  accom- 
plish with  his  commission. 

Any  one  who  has  had  the  questionable  fortune 
to  be  chairman  of  a  commission  or  of  a  directory 
can  easily  imagine  himself  in  Ezra's  place.  The 
commission  is  organized  on  the  1st  of  January, 
457  B.C.  and  in  three  months  has  so  far  accom- 
plished its  task  as  to  have  ascertained  and  officially 
identified  all  the  men  who  are  living  in  mixed 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.         159 

marriage.  At  this  point  our  reports  break  off 
suddenly  and  we  have  no  direct  account  of  the 
next  thirteen  years,  until  April,  444.  B.  C.  Of 
course  the  reports  of  the  period  were  intentionally 
suppressed  because  they  were  too  sad  and  too  hu- 
miliating. Plainly  Ezra  accomplished  nothing, 
and  an  attempt  to  strengthen  his  position  was  a 
woful  failure. 

In  April,  444  B.  C.,  we  suddenly  learn  that  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  are  torn  down  and  its  gates 
burned  with  fire.  Ezra  had  probably  recognized 
that  he  must  first  of  all  be  master  in  his  own  house 
before  he  could  take  any  energetic  measures.  Je- 
rusalem was  an  exposed  and  thinly  populated  city, 
defenceless  against  any  sudden  attack,  open  to 
any  surprise.  Eelying,  therefore,  upon  his  royal 
authority,  Ezra  had  proceeded  to  build  city  walls 
and  fortify  the  place. 

The  neighbors,  suspicious  and  offended  most 
deeply  by  the  recent  occurrences  in  Jerusalem, 
now  publicly  denounced  this  last  proceeding  to  the 
Persian  Government,  attributing  to  Ezra's  action 
a  political  motive. 

We  must  recall  that  Egypt  had  shortly  before 
freed  itself  from  Persian  rule.  True  it  had  been 
again  subjected,  but  not  by  any  means  pacified  ; 
there  are  still  commotions  in  Egypt  as  late  as  449 
and  443  B.  C.  Accordingly  the  Persians  were  na- 
turally very  anxious  regarding  the  neighboring 
countries,  and  therefore  a  command  actually 
arrived  from  Artaxerxes  to  desist  forthwith  from 


l6o       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

the  building  of  the  wall.  The  enemies  of  the 
Jews  translated  this  royal  command  into  action 
and  destroyed  the  work  that  had  been  begun. 
This  probably  happened  in  the  year  445  B.  0. 

But  just  at  the  moment  when  Ezra's  cause 
seemed  hopelessly  lost  there  came  to  him  unex- 
pected assistance.  A  Babylonian  Jew  named  Ne- 
hemiah had  won  the  favor  of  King  Artaxerxes 
and  his  wife,  Damaspia,  and  had  become  royal 
cup-bearer.  He  heard  of  the  depressing  occur- 
rences in  Jerusalem  and  could  not  conceal  his  dis- 
tress. The  king,  whom  he  was  serving  at  the 
time,  made  sympathetic  inquiries,  and  when 
Nehemiah  was  directed  to  ask  a  royal  favor  he 
applied  for  and  received  the  position  of  governor 
in  Jerusalem,  which  was  evidently  vacant  at  the 
time.  The  king  gave  him  leave  of  absence  for 
twelve  years  and  actually  appointed  him  Persian 
governor  in  Judea. 

Well  provided  with  royal  privileges  and  creden- 
tials, he  sets  out  in  order  to  assume  his  new  office 
forthwith.  Now  the  civil  arm  is  at  the  disposal 
of  the  work  of  reform,  and  Nehemiah  is  the  man 
to  make  use  with  all  energy  of  the  authority 
given  him. 

In  Nehemiah  we  have  one  of  the  most  charac- 
teristic and  attractive  figures  in  the  whole  of  Is- 
raelitish  history.  He  owes  his  success  above  all 
things  to  the  moral  nobility  of  his  personality. 
Entirely  unselfish,  inspired  only  by  consecrated 
zeal  for  the  cause,  he  has  the  power  of  carrying 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        l6l 

all  along  with  him,  of  encouraging  the  timid  and 
unenthusiastic  by  his  own  belief  and  confidence, 
and  of  lifting  plodding  and  lukewarm  souls  out  of 
and  above  themselves  by  his  own  idealism  and  en- 
thusiasm. He  is  at  the  same  time  the  soul  and  arm 
of  the  whole  work,  taking  hold  everywhere  him- 
self and  leading.  But  he  proceeds  in  this  openly 
and  honorably,  scorning  all  petty  means  and  eva- 
sions :  friends  and  foes  alike  know  where  to  find 
him.  Even  where  he  uses  force  he  does  not  cloak 
his  purpose,  but  meets  his  man  with  lifted  visor, 
everywhere  throwing  his  whole  personality  into 
the  undertaking.  And  since  his  energy  and  prac- 
tical force  were  coupled  with  equally  great  shrewd- 
ness and  knowledge  of  the  world — he  had  not 
gone  through  the  school  of  diplomacy  at  the  Per- 
sian court  for  nothing — he  was  the  man  of  des- 
tiny for  this  difficult  task,  which  demanded  a  pe- 
culiar combination  of  religious  enthusiasm  and 
worldly  wisdom,  and  he  accomplished  it.  What 
Ezra  attempted,  Nehemiah  achieved  ;  the  estab- 
lishment and  consolidation  of  the  Jewish  com- 
munity is  essentially  his  work  and  his  merit. 

The  new  governor  had  been  but  three  days  in 
Jerusalem  when  he  undertook,  with  but  a  few 
companions,  a  night  ride  about  the  ruined  walls 
in  order  to  get,  by  the  pale  light  of  the  moon,  a 
complete  survey  of  the  damage.  He  had  not  pro- 
ceeded far  when  his  animal  was  checked  by  rub- 
bish and  ruins,  and  he  was  obliged  to  turn  back. 

Now  he  called  together  the  whole  people  and  the 


162        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

priests  and  elders,  painted  for  them  in  vivid  words 
the  shameful  condition  of  Jerusalem,  and  pre- 
sented to  them  the  authority  and  the  privileges 
which  he  had  received  from  the  king.  They  pro- 
ceed to  work  forthwith  and  the  task  is  apportioned 
in  an  extremely  practical  way.  To  each  family 
was  assigned  a  certain  part  of  the  wall,  which  it 
was  to  construct,  and  thus  the  whole  wall  rose 
from  the  ground  at  once. 

The  whole  time  Nehemiah  did  not  have  his 
clothes  off.  Day  and  night  he  was  on  the  ground, 
taking  hold  every  where  him  self  like  the  common- 
est laborer,  supervising  all  and  carrying  great 
and  small  with  him  by  his  pattern  and  example. 

The  enemies  of  the  Jews,  among  whom  Sanbal- 
lat  the  Horonite,  Tobiah  the  Ammonite,  and  Ge- 
shem  the  Arabian  are  especially  mentioned,  behold 
with  wrath  and  dismay  what  is  going  on  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  try  in  every  way  to  hinder  the  work. 
When  their  ridicule  and  mockery  prove  of  no 
avail  they  try  to  use  force ;  but  Nehemiah  makes 
his  arrangements  so  that  the  work  need  not  be 
interrupted,  and  yet  the  whole  force  is  at  any  mo- 
ment ready  for  defence.  Now  the  enemy  try  cun- 
ning :  they  undertake  to  lure  Nehemiah  away 
from  the  work  under  pretext  of  a  conference  ;.  but 
Nehemiah,  who  immediately  sees  through  the 
clumsy  plan,  answers  with  delicate  irony  that  he 
unfortunately  could  not  leave  Jerusalem  at  the 
moment,  being  occupied  with  an  important  task 
which  urgently  demanded  his  personal  presence. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL,        163 

Then  the  enemy  hit  upon  the  plan  of  causing 
him  difficulty  in  his  own  camp.  There  were  cer- 
tainly many  who  had  but  half  a  heart  in  the 
matter,  and  to  whom  any  pretext  for  withdrawing 
in  good  order  was  welcome.  And  now  Nehemiah's 
enemies  hire  the  pitiful  remnants  of  the  prophetic 
class  in  Jerusalem,  who  actually  sell  themselves 
for  money  and  work  against  Nehemiah  by  means 
of  alleged  prophetic  oracles,  and  try  to  mislead 
and  alienate  the  people  ;  but  Nehemiah  overcomes 
these  difficulties  also. 

But  now  he  is  met  by  the  most  dangerous  ob- 
stacle. By  reason  of  the  work  upon  the  wall  the 
common  man  has  been  deprived  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  follow  his  regular  business ;  moreover 
the  taxes  have  to  be  collected  afterwards  as  be- 
fore, and  there  seem  to  have  been  in  addition 
crop  failures  and  dearth.  Thus  the  poor  had  be- 
come deeply  in  debt :  they  had  been  obliged  to 
mortgage  their  fields,  vineyards,  and  houses,  and 
even  in  some  cases  sell  their  children  into  serfdom. 
Now  they  bring  their  complaints  before  the  gover- 
nor, who  forthwith  calls  a  general  assembly  and 
with  all  the  pathos  of  virtuous  indignation  re- 
bukes the  rich  usurers  for  their  unfraternal  be- 
havior. By  referring  to  his  own  unselfishness  in 
resigning  all  the  income  that  belonged  to  the 
office  of  governor  in  order  not  to  oppress  the 
people,  but  instead  paying  for  everything  out  of 
his  own  pocket  and  besides  keeping  open  table 
daily  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  he  brings 


164        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

such  a  moral  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  rich  that 
they  swear  solemnly  to  cancel  all  their  claims  and 
return  all  property  held  in  pledge. 

Now  the  work  advances  with  giant  strides  :  on 
the  25th  of  September,  444  B.  C.,  after  fifty-two 
days'  labor,  the  wall  was  finished  and  the  gates 
set  in  place.  A  solemn  procession,  which  marched 
about  with  psalm-singing  and  music  upon  the  top 
of  the  newly  erected  wall,  expressed  thanks  to 
God  for  the  success  of  the  work  and  proclaimed 
to  all  the  world  its  completion. 

Thus  protected  against  interference  from  with- 
out, they  now  proceed  to  the  greater  and  more 
important  task  which  Ezra  had  been  obliged  to 
drop.  For  the  very  next  1st  of  October,  444  B.  C., 
the  whole  people  is  summoned  to  Jerusalem. 
From  the  midst  of  the  assembly  itself  comes  the 
proposal  that  Ezra  shall  read  from  the  book  of 
the  law  of  Moses.  Ezra  mounts  a  pulpit  already 
erected  for  this  purpose  ;  on  either  side  of  it  stand 
seven  of  the  most  prominent  men,  and  a  number 
of  Levites  are  on  hand  to  explain  to  the  people 
what  Ezra  has  read.  Again  the  people  break  out 
into  loud  weeping  ;  but  Ezra  says  they  are  not  to 
weep,  but  sit  down  to  a  joyous  meal  and  give  a 
share  to  those  who  have  brought  nothing,  for  this 
day  is  a  sacred  jubilee  for  Israel. 

The  following  day  Ezra  continues  the  reading 
of  the  law,  but  only  to  the  heads  of  families. 
Then  the  feast  of  tabernacles  is  celebrated  on 
the  15th  of  October,  according  to  the  direc- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        165 

tions  of  the  law,  and  on  the  24th  of  October  a 
great  and  general  day  of  repentance  and  prayer 
is  held,  and  there  the  whole  people  takes  a  solemn 
oath  to  support  the  book  of  the  law  as  read  by 
Ezra ;  the  heads  of  families  sign  and  seal  this 
obligation  with  due  solemnity  :  strict  observance 
of  the  Sabbath,  absolute  prohibition  of  mixed 
marriages,  observance  of  the  sabbatical  year  and 
the  remission  of  debts,  and  above  all  faithful  pay- 
ment of  the  dues  to  the  temple,  are  the  most  im- 
portant single  points  of  this  compact. 

The  24th  of  October  is  the  real  birthday  of  Juda- 
ism, one  of  the  most  important  days  in  the  history 
of  humanity.  At  last  the  religion  of  revelation  had 
succeeded  in  getting  a  home  of  its  own,  if  I  may 
use  the  expression  ;  it  had  created  for  itself  a  body 
in  and  through  which  it  could  act  and  fulfil  its 
lofty  mission  to  the  world. 

True,  not  all  was  accomplished  by  this  one 
popular  assembly.  Many  had  allowed  themselves 
to  be  carried  away  by  the  mass,  to  whom  it  now 
came  hard  when  obligations  there  assumed  were 
taken  in  bitter  earnest.  And  the  very  ones  upon 
whom  Nehemiah  should  have  been  able  to  depend, 
and  who  were  the  born  promoters  and  guardians 
of  his  work,  the  priests,  stood  aside  resentful  or  at 
least  lukewarm.  They  had  by  this  time  devel- 
oped into  a  sort  of  temple  nobility,  who  were  now 
concerned  only  for  the  privileges  of  their  position, 
who  fraternized  with  the  civil  nobility,  but  who 
were  not  disposed  to  accept  into  the  bargain 


1 66        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

heavy  obligations.  So  long  as  Nehemiah  was 
governor,  indeed,  he  was  able  with  iron  hand  to 
suppress  all  opposition  ;  but  at  the  end  of  twelve 
years  his  leave  expired,  and  in  432  B.  C.,  he  was 
obliged  to  return  to  the  Persian  court.  But  with 
a  true  perception  of  the  needs  of  the  situation  he 
managed  to  secure  the  governorship  anew  and 
was  permitted  soon  to  return  to  Jerusalem. 

How  far  the  whole  work  depended  on  him  per- 
sonally became  evident  immediately.  Even  this 
brief  absence  had  sufficed  to  let  everything  get 
at  odds  and  ends.  The  Sabbath  was  desecrated 
boldly,  the  temple  tribute  was  not  paid,  mixed 
marriages  began  to  recur.  But  the  most  serious 
offense  had  been  committed  by  the  high  priest, 
Eliashib.  He  had  given  a  chamber  in  the  temple 
to  his  kinsman,  Tobiah  the  Ammonite,  whom  we 
know  as  an  enemy  of  Nehemiah,  and  his  grandson, 
Manasseh,  had  even  married  Nicaso,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sanballat,  Nehemiah's  chief  adversary. 

And  now  Nehemiah  adopted  rigorous  measures. 
He  went  about  the  whole  country  to  hunt  out 
mixed  marriages  and  appeal  to  the  consciences  of 
the  guilty  parties  ;  he  punished  severely  violations 
of  the  command  of  Sabbath  rest ;  he  had  the  gates 
of  Jerusalem  closed  on  Friday  evening  and  kept 
closed  the  whole  Sabbath,  and  when  heathen  tra- 
ders tried  to  set  up  their  market  without  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  on  the  Sabbath,  he  had  them  warned 
and  threatened  with  violent  punishment.  The 
temple  tithes,  likewise,  were  systematized  care- 


HISTORY    OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        l6/ 

fully  and  provision  made  for  their  correct  pay- 
ment. But  Nehemiah  took  the  most  energetic 
measures  against  Eliashib,  the  high  priest.  If  he 
might  defy  his  authority  with  impunity,  it  would 
amount  to  nothing.  Without  ceremony  Nehe- 
miah had  Tobiah's  household  stuff  cast  out  of  the 
chamber  in  the  temple  and  had  the  chamber  itself 
reconsecrated  ;  and  when  Manasseh  refused  to 
put  away  Nicaso,  he  expelled  him  from  the  people 
and  the  congregation. 

We  have  a  vague  hint  that  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  priests,  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  new 
conditions,  joined  Manasseh  and  left  Jerusalem. 
Manasseh  went  to  the  home  of  his  father-in-law, 
Sanballat,  and  founded  there  an  Israelitish  wor- 
ship according  to  the  old  style,  which  was  adopted 
by  all  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  reforms. 
This  became  the  religious  community  of  the  Sa- 
maritans. 

This  secession  was  a  decided  advantage  for  the 
reform  in  Jerusalem  :  all  the  hesitating  elements 
withdrew  from  the  city  and  only  those  remained 
who  had  firm  convictions.  Now  the  Jewish  com- 
munity became  an  harmonious  and  homogeneous 
society  in  which  the  strict  tendency  of  the  reform 
party  prevailed ;  whoever  was  dissatisfied  had 
simply  to  join  the  Samaritans.  Thus  there  was 
a  clean  division  on  one  side  as  well  as  on  the  other, 
which  however  was  not  accomplished  amicably, 
but  planted  on  both  sides  a  rapidly  growing  har- 
vest of  passionate  hatred.  For  the  further  his- 


1 68   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

tory  of  the  development  of  religion  the  Samaritans 
are  without  consequence  ;  for  a  second  time,  and 
now  for  all  time,  Judah  had  become  Israel,  Israel 
was  limited  to  Judah. 

Kegarding  the  length  of  Nehemiah's  second 
term  as  governor  and  his  further  destinies  we 
know  nothing  ;  but  the  aftertime  shows  plainly 
that  he  accomplished  the  work  of  his  life.  He  im- 
pressed the  stamp  of  his  spirit  upon  Judaism  for 
all  time  and  forced  it  to  follow  the  course  he  had 
marked  out. 

It  is  one  of  the  greatest  ironies  of  fate  known 
to  universal  history,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  the 
wonderful  ways  which  divine  Providence  takes 
for  the  attainment  of  its  most  important  and  most 
significant  ends,  that  the  final  completion  and  the 
permanent  consolidation  of  the  exclusive  Judaism 
which  sealed  itself  hermetically  against  every- 
thing non- Jewish  and  rejected  sternly  everything 
heathen,  was  accomplished  and  made  possible 
only  under  the  protection  and  by  the  aid  of  a 
heathen  government,  that  the  reformation  of  Ezra 
and  Nehemiah,  to  use  a  modern  phrase,  hung  from 
the  sword-belt  of  the  Persian  gens  d'armes.  And 
yet  the  work  was  of  God,  and  only  thus  could  the 
religion  of  revelation  be  preserved.  But  for  the 
energy  of  Nehemiah  the  whole  history  of  human- 
ity would  have  run  an  entirely  different  course. 
And  therefore  we  too  must  look  up  to  this  man 
with  gratitude  and  reverence  to  this  day. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        169 

For  the  next  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  only  a 
few  scattered  dates  are.  transmitted  to  us.  For 
universal  history  they  are  the  most  important  and 
portentous  of  all — I  need  only  name  the  one  name, 
Alexander  the  Great.  Let  us  examine  what  we 
know  of  this  period  and  sketch  the  events  of  the 
history  of  the  world  only  in  roughest  outline,  so 
far  as  they  are  indispensable  to  the  understanding 
of  the  history  of  the  people  of  Israel. 

Johanan,  the  grandson  of  the  high  priest  Elia- 
shib  whom  we  know,  had  a  brother  Joshua,  who 
was  a  friend  of  Bagoses,  the  Persian  governor. 
Bagoses  wanted  to  secure  the  high  priesthood  for 
Joshua  ;  Johanan  learns  this  and  murders  his 
brother  in  the  temple  during  the  service.  At  the 
news  of  the  crime  Bagoses  hastens  to  the  temple  ; 
when  they  beg  him  not  to  pollute  the  temple 
by  his  presence  he  answers  scornfully  :  "Do  I, 
perchance,  pollute  the  temple  more  than  the 
corpse  of  the  slain  man  ?  "  So  he  goes  in,  and 
for  atonement  fifty  silver  shekels  have  to  be 
paid  him  for  every  lamb  sacrificed  throughout 
a  period  of  seven  years, — at  least  he  made  a 
fine  stroke  of  business  out  of  the  death  of  his 
friend. 

Further,  we  have  the  wholly  disconnected  re- 
mark that  King  Ochus  destroyed  Jericho  and  de- 
ported a  great  number  of  Jews  to  Hyrcania.  In 
the  reign  of  Ochus  it  is  a  fact  that  all  Egypt,  Phoe- 
nicia, and  Ccelesyria  was  in  rebellion  against  the 
Persians  ;  it  is  possible  that  some  scattered  Jews 


1 70   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

took  part  in  this,  and  so  there  is  at  least  every 
inner  probability  for  this  report. 

But  the  days  of  the  Persian  dominion  were 
numbered.  Alexander  the  Great  began  his  mar- 
velous career  of  victory  in  334  B.  C.  and  the 
battle  of  Issus  delivered  all  Syria  and  Egypt  into 
his  hands.  Alexander  hastens  thither  immedi- 
ately in  order  to  make  sure  of  these  countries. 
What  Josephus  tells  of  a  visit  of  Alexander  in 
Jerusalem  and  his  meeting  with  the  high  priest 
Jadduah  is  pure  legend  ;  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
quite  probable  that  Alexander,  who  showed  all 
possible  consideration  for  the  religious  views  of 
the  people  whom  he  subdued,  may  have  granted 
the  Jews  exemption  from  tribute  in  the  sabbatical 
year  and  permitted  to  those  going  with  him  to 
war  the  observance  of  their  own  religious  customs. 
When  the  Samaritans  rebelled  against  him  he 
added  a  part  of  Samaria  to  Judea. 

And  so  the  Jews  had  been  transferred  from  the 
Persian  rule  to  that  of  the  Greeks. 

We  pass  over  the  events  and  confusion  of  the 
succeeding  years,  remembering  only  that  the 
battle  of  Ipsus,  in  the  year  301,  put  an  end  to  the 
contentions  of  the  immediate  successors  of  Alex- 
ander :  Palestine  and  Ccelesyria  fell  to  Ptolemy 
of  Egypt,  and  until  198  Judea  remained  an  Egyp- 
tian province. 

This  century  is  the  happiest  period  that  Judea 
experienced  after  the  loss  of  her  independence. 
The  very  first  Ptolemy  favored  the  Jews  in  every 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        171 

way.  Not  only  was  the  Egyptian  administration 
in  Judea  exceedingly  mild  and  kindly  disposed, 
but  Ptolemy  endeavored  also  to  persuade  the 
Jews  to  settle  in  Egypt  proper.  It  is  even  re- 
ported that  Alexander  colonized  Jews  in  his  newly 
founded  city  of  Alexandria.  Ptolemy  pursued 
this  policy  with  all  energy,  because,  as  Josephus 
informs  us,  the  Jews  were  the  only  ones  among 
all  his  subjects  upon  whose  oath  he  could  abso- 
lutely depend  ;  therefore  he  preferred  to  appoint 
Jews  to  positions  of  the  highest  trust,  and  granted 
them  in  Alexandria  complete  equality  with  the 
Macedonians  themselves,  "isopolity,"  as  it  was 
called.  As  the  immediate  successors  of  Ptolemy 
favored  the  Jews  in  the  same  way,  Alexandria 
soon  became  the  second  Jewish  city  in  the  world, 
and  in  Egypt  they  were  numbered  by  millions. 

That  this  favoring  of  the  Jews  by  the  Ptolemies 
was  based  largely  on  policy,  the  endeavor  to 
attach  to  themselves  and  their  family  the  popula- 
tion of  an  important  and  exposed  boundary  prov- 
ince, is  evident  from  the  very  fact  that  Seleucus 
Nicator,  ruler  of  Syria,  the  neighbor  and  rival  of 
Egypt,  hastened  to  grant  them  in  his  country 
and  his  cities  the  same  privileges  :  he,  too,  gave 
them  "isopolity"  with  Macedonians  and  Greeks. 
In  the  new  capital  founded  by  him,  Antioch,  this 
right  of  citizenship  even  paid  something  :  there 
were  allowances  of  oil  connected  with  it  ;  but 
since  the  Jews  would  not  accept  this  heathen  oil, 
as  being  polluted,  Seleucus  issued  an  order  that 


172        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

it  should  be  made  up  to  them  in  money  at  the 
prevailing  market  price. 

As  Palestine  belongs  geographically  to  Asia, 
nature  herself  had  assigned  it  to  Syria ;  so  long 
as  this  province  was  in  possession  of  Egypt,  and 
the  Egyptian  boundary  was  thus  advanced  to  the 
very  gates  of  the  capital,  Antioch,  the  Seleucidse 
could  not  rest  nor  regard  their  realm  as  rounded 
out  and  complete.  And  so,  as  the  result  of  the 
inner  momentum  of  circumstances,  there  soon 
begin  the  struggles  of  the  Seleucidae  with  the 
Ptolemies  in  order  to  take  from  them  this  prov- 
ince which  was  indispensable  to  Syria. 

It  is  not  our  office  to  pursue  these  fluctuant 
events  in  detail.  At  first  the  advantage  was  de- 
cidedly on  the  side  of  Egypt.  There  reigned  a 
series  of  excellent  and  highly  gifted  rulers,  while 
the  first  Seleucidas  after  the  mighty  Seleucus  Nica- 
tor  present  a  mournful  and  lamentable  picture. 

But  soon  the  leaf  is  turned.  The  fourth  Ptol- 
emy, a  Louis  XV.  on  the  Egyptian  throne,  wholly 
degenerated  in  the  most  shameless  excesses,  al- 
lowed everything  to  decay  and  rot,  while  at  the 
same  time  in  Antiochus  III.,  incorrectly  called 
the  Great,  the  throne  of  the  Seleucidas  had  received 
at  least  an  enterprising  and  energetic  ruler. 
True,  the  first  attack  of  Antiochus  upon  Egypt 
was  repelled  ;  but  when  in  204  B.  C.  Ptolemy  IV. 
suddenly  died  and  the  kingdom  was  left  to  his 
five-year-old  son,  the  confusion  in  Egypt  was 
great.  Now  Antiochus  took  swift  measures.  In 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        173 

their  helplessness  the  Egyptian  regents  offered 
the  guardianship  of  their  youthful  king  to  the 
Romans  ;  but  the  Romans  were  still  occupied  with 
Hannibal,  and  soon  after  had  Phillip  V.  of  Mace- 
don  to  look  after,  and  accordingly  could  not  at 
the  time  give  any  attention  to  their  Egyptian 
ward. 

After  various  chances  of  war  Antiochus  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  decisively  the  Egyptian  gen- 
eral, Scopas,  at  Paneas,  and  in  forcing  him  to 
capitulate  in  Sidon,  whither  he  had  retreated  with 
his  troops.  Thus  in  the  year  198  B.  C.  Palestine 
and  Ccelesyria  became  a  Syrian  province. 

The  Jews,  who  had  felt  the  change  in  condition 
of  the  Egyptian  state,  and  who  could  have  no 
sympathy  for  such  a  man  as  the  fourth  Ptolemy, 
received  the  Syrians  with  open  arms  and  gave 
them  active  support  in  expelling  the  Egyptian 
garrisons,  and  Antiochus  showed  his  appreciation 
of  their  willingness  :  the  whole  service  in  the 
temple  in  Jerusalem  was  put  upon  the  charge  of 
the  state  treasury,  exemption  from  taxation  was 
granted  to  everything  intended  for  the  temple  as 
well  as  to  the  priesthood  and  all  attaches  of  the 
temple,  the  entrance  into  the  temple  was  forbid- 
den to  every  non-Jew  as  well  as  the  introduction 
of  unclean  animals  into  Jerusalem,  under  heavy 
fines  to  be  paid  to  the  priests  of  the  temple,  and 
all  Jews  were  secured  in  unconditional  religious 
freedom.  Those  who  had  fallen  into  military 
captivity  and  slavery  were  to  be  released  forth- 


174       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

with.  To  the  population  of  Jerusalem,  and  to 
all  who  should  settle  in  Jerusalem  within  a 
certain  period,  complete  freedom  from  taxation 
for  three  years  was  granted  and  after  that  ex- 
emption of  one- third. 

We  see,  the  new  government  spares  no  pains 
to  win  the  hearts  of  its  Jewish  subjects,  and 
these  probably  looked  forward  to  the  future  with 
joyous  confidence.  But  how  soon  the  picture 
was  to  be  changed  !  When  thirty  years  had 
passed  over  the  country  Judea  was  engaged  in  a 
desperate  struggle  with  Syria  for  life  and  death  ; 
and  with  this  we  are  once  more  at  a  turning 
point  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER  VIL 

THE    MACCABEAN    REBELLION    TO    THE  ESTABLISH- 
MENT  OF  THE  HEREDITARY   HIGH   PRIESTHOOD 
AND   PRINCIPALITY  UNDER  SIMON. 

WE  have  pursued  historical  events  as  far 
as  the  point  where  Judea  became  a  prov- 
ince of  the  Syrian  empire  of  the  Seleucidse.  We 
must  now  take  a  survey  partly  reminiscent  and 
partly  anticipative  of  the  prevailing  and  rising 
spiritual  forces  of  the  time,  since  all  the  succeed- 
ing historical  development  is  quite  unintelligible 
without  a  clear  conception  of  their  nature  and 
significance. 

The  most  important  of  the  spiritual  forces  in 
question  is  Hellenism.  It  lifted  the  ancient  world 
out  of  its  rats,  while  the  Orient  in  particular  was 
entirely  transformed  by  it.  With  it  an  absolutely 
new  factor  enters  the  history  of  the  world.  Its 
victories  are  not  merely  of  the  sword,  but  of  the 
mind.  The  Assyrians,  indeed,  aimed  at  a  sys- 
tematic destruction  of  nationalities  through  their 
wholesale  deportations  and  the  resulting  mixture 
of  races ;  but  these  measures  were  taken  solely 
with  a  political  purpose  :  they  wished  to  make 
other  nations  defenseless  and  harmless  in  order 


176       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

to  maintain  themselves  in  unimperiled  possession 
of  the  supremacy.  The  Assyrians  had  no  thought 
of  extending  the  really  important  and  highly  de- 
veloped Assyro-Bahylonian  civilization,  or  of  prop- 
agandizing for  Assyro-Babylonian  language  or 
religion  ;  if  the  subjected  races  were  docile  and 
paid  their  tribute  promptly,  the  aim  of  the  As- 
syrian diplomacy  was  attained  ;  they  did  not  ask 
or  desire  more. 

The  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  State  as  a 
civilizing  power  appears  first  in  Nebuchadnezzar  ; 
and  the  Persian  kings,  continuing  and  extending 
his  work,  gave  an  admirable  organization  to  their 
empire  ;  yet  even  this  organization  was  purely  ad- 
ministrative. The  Persian  Government  gave  it- 
self absolutely  no  concern  for  local  and  domestic 
affairs,  neither  did  it  ever  anywhere  attempt  a 
blending  of  various  nationalities ;  it  permitted  the 
Egyptians  to  be  Egyptians  undisturbed,  the  Jews, 
Jews,  and  the  Greeks,  Greeks,  provided  only  they 
were  and  remained  loyal  Persian  subjects. 

Into  these  idyllic  conditions  came  suddenly  Hel- 
lenism. True,  Alexander  the  Great  was  most 
scrupulously  considerate  of  the  religious  views  of 
conquered  races,  and  it  would  never  have  oc- 
curred to  him  to  put  the  Greek  Zeus,  for  instance, 
in  the  place  of  the  native  gods  of  the  Orient ;  and 
yet  Alexander  aimed  clearly  and  consciously  not 
only  at  conquering  the  Orient,  but  at  Hellenizing 
it.  The  universal  empire  which  rose  before  his 
gifted  and  ardent  spirit  was  to  bring  an  organic 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        177 

blending  of  all  nationalities  into  a  new  unity  in 
which  of  course  the  Greek  was  to  be  the  dominant 
factor  fixing  the  character  of  the  entire  combina- 
tion, but  only  in  order  to  transmit  to  the  whole 
world  the  treasures  of  the  Greek  intellect  and  the 
benefits  of  Greek  civilization. 

In  Alexander  personally  these  ambitions  were 
indeed  reversed.  From  a  Greek  he  himself  be- 
came ever  more  and  more  an  Oriental,  so  that  the 
old  Macedonian  veterans  who  could  not  reconcile 
themselves  to  altered  and  un-Greek  conditions 
rebelled  against  him  the  year  before  his  death  ; 
but  his  ambition  was  magnificent  and  became  of 
incalculable  importance  in  its  results. 

The  successors  of  Alexander  pursued  this  ambi- 
tion deliberately  ;  everywhere  Greeks  streamed  in, 
everywhere  there  sprang  from  the  soil  new  cities 
which,  being  settled  exclusively  by  Greeks,  spread 
a  distinctly  Greek  net  over  the  whole  Orient,  in 
the  meshes  of  which  was  entangled  ever  more  of 
the  ancient  Oriental  life.  And  when  we  recall 
what  these  Hellenes  had  to  offer  to  the  Orient, 
then  only  shall  we  be  able  to  estimate  the  whole 
significance  of  the  intellectual  process  thus  initi- 
ated and  extending  its  effects  ever  more  swiftly 
and  vigorously.  Even  to-day  our  whole  culture 
and  civilization  is  based  upon  Hellas  and  what 
that  divinely-favored  race  gave  to  mankind.  But 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  Greece  it- 
self had  long  passed  its  Golden  Age,  its  intellect- 
ual and  political  meridian. 


1/8        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

It  is  particularly  significant,  and  not  at  all  a 
matter  of  accident,  that  in  order  to  take  the  ag- 
gressive the  Greeks  themselves  had  first  to  be 
made  again  presentable  in  history,  if  I  may  be  al- 
lowed the  expression,  by  the  semi-barbarous  peo- 
ple of  the  Macedonians.  Hellenism  was  enabled 
to  enter  upon  its  victorious  career  of  world-con- 
quest only  through  the  Macedonians  and  under 
their  dominion. 

It  is  just  the  case  of  the  Greeks  which  has 
shown  so  very  clearly  whither  a  civilization  leads 
which  lacks  religious  and  moral  foundations  and 
is  solely  a  product  of  unrestrained  human  spirit. 
With  the  intellectual  perfection  went  hand  in 
hand  a  moral  decay  whose  dreadful  depths  could 
not  be  hidden  even  by  the  roses  that  flourished 
on  the  edge  of  the  abyss.  Aside  from  the  sole 
shining  figure  of  Epaminondas,  who  as  a  Boeotian 
was  a  semi-boor  in  the  eyes  of  every  genuine  Hel- 
lene, Greek  history  from  the  end  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  War  to  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great 
presents  a  truly  depressing  picture  of  abjectness 
and  worthlessness.  Very  soon  the  average  Greek 
had  of  civilization  only  the  moral  decay,  of  cul- 
ture only  the  conceited  arrogance.  Only  recall 
with  what  undisguised  contempt  the  Romans 
looked  down  upon  the  Greeks  when  they  first 
became  acquainted  with  them.  The  Eoman,  who 
still  retained  the  early  Roman  honesty  and 
thoroughness,  regarded  every  Greek  as  a  mere 
blackguard,  and  'Graeculus'  became  an  epithet 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        179 

for  the  characterization  of  a  windy,  puffed-up, 
characterless,  unreliable  fellow. 

And  this  ethical  dissolution  which  may  be 
called  absolute  decay,  made  rapid  progress  ;  they 
were  soon  on  the  verge  of  complete  moral  bank- 
ruptcy. And  so  the  Greeks  became  for  the  Orient 
the  bearers  of  civilization  indeed,  but  also  the 
the  bearers  of  moral  degeneration.  Where  they 
really  predominated  arose  frivolity  and  skepticism 
and  a  moral  laxity  more  repulsive  under  its  var- 
nish of  culture  than  undisguised  barbarism  and 
untutored  license.  The  result  was  what  we  may 
observe  everywhere  when  differing  nationalities 
are  mixed  without  the  mixture  being  controlled 
and  protected  by  a  strong  hand  ;  the  good  charac- 
teristics are  lost,  while  there  is  a  reciprocal  ex- 
change of  bad  qualities,  so  that  the  product  finally 
combines  in  itself  all  the  bad  qualities  of  its  con- 
stituent elements  while  the  good  are  dissipated. 

Now  what  was  the  relation  of  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple to  this  new  factor  in  the  world's  history  ?  In 
the  first  place,  Judea  was  so  fortunate  as  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  Hellenism  from  its  best  side. 
Whatever  there  was  good  and  great  in  Hellenism 
and  its  products  is  inseparably  associated  with 
the  name  of  Alexandria,  the  capital  of  the  empire 
at  this  time  and  for  Judea  also.  The  first  three 
Ptolemies,  under  whose  rule  Judea  stood  for 
eighty  years  (from  301  to  221,  B.  C.),  may  fairly 
be  designated  as  the  most  important  historical 
personages  of  the  entire  Hellenistic  period  ;  with 


180       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

them  and  under  them  Hellenism  was  solely  a 
civilizing  power  and  put  itself  at  the  service  of 
Israel  also.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  second 
Ptolemy,  who  wished  to  have  in  legible  form  in 
his  model  library  at  Alexandria  among  others 
also  the  sacred  writings  of  his  Jewish  subjects  a 
beginning  was  made  of  translating  the  Old  Tes- 
tament into  the  universal  language,  Greek  ;  and 
since  the  religious  and  national  consolidation  of 
the  Jewish  congregation  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah 
this  is  the  most  important  occurrence,  perhaps, 
in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  people. 

How  well  disposed  these  rulers  were  towards 
the  Jews,  and  how  they  favored  them  in  every 
way,  we  have  already  learned.  Accordingly  the 
danger  of  Hellenization  was  particularly  keen. 
The  Judaism  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  is  charac- 
terized by  an  element  of  gloomy  severity  and 
sharp  asceticism  :  that  was  a  soil  on  which  the 
sunny  serenity  and  merry  joyousness  of  Hellenism 
was  sure  to  be  particularly  attractive  and  to  in- 
sinuate itself  into  the  heart :  it  would  not  have 
been  surprising  if  the  Jews,  dazzled  by  the  new 
light,  had  deserted  in  masses.  But  nothing  of 
the  sort  took  place ;  religious  training  prevailed 
over  secular  culture,  the  Jew  remained  faithful 
to  his  God  and  his  law. 

The  rejection  of  Hellenism  was  not  at  first 
abrupt  and  absolute,  but  there  was  a  sharp  and 
clear  perception  of  the  limit  where  Hellenism 
must  halt.  The  connexion  of  the  two  reached  a 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        l8l 

really  touching  expression  in  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
so-called  Preacher  of  Solomon  (Ecclesiastes), 
which  was  written  about  the  year  200  B.  C.  by  a 
Jew  trained  under  Hellenistic  influence.  The 
author  shows  himself  to  be  profoundly  permeated 
with  Hellenism.  He  has  assimilated  it  as  an  ele- 
ment of  his  culture,  he  is  indubitably  influenced 
by  Greek  philosophy  and  Greek  science,  and  ex- 
presses views  which  sound  like  consummate  scep- 
ticism ;  but  withal  he  holds  inflexibly  true  to  the 
faith  in  a  personal  God  and  a  moral  order  of  the 
universe ;  he  gives  up  the  solution  of  the  riddle 
of  existence  and  falls  back  resignedly  upon  the 
faith  of  his  childhood,  although  it  has  shown  it- 
self to  be  inadequate.  Truly,  Old  Testament  piety 
has  nowhere  had  a  greater  triumph  than  in  this 
book  which  at  the  first  glance  seems  so  godless  ! 
Yes,  Judaism  had  itself  strength  and  resistance 
enough  to  receive  the  ennobling  and  illuminating 
influence  of  Hellenism  without  surrendering  to 
it. 

About  the  same  time  as  Ecclesiastes,  was  writ- 
ten the  book  Jesus  Sirach.  In  this  book  genuine 
Jewish  piety  shines  with  such  a  mild  and  pure 
light,  purged  of  all  that  is  sharp  and  rude  ;  piety 
and  common  sense  are  here  combined  into  such 
broadly  beautiful  charity,  morality  ennobled  by 
religion  and  religion  manifested  in  morality,  that 
one  can  see  plainly  that  Judaism  is  not  inherently 
hostile  to  culture,  but  that  here  too  true  religion 


1 82   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

and  true  culture  join  in  a  beautiful  union  fruitful 
for  both  sides. 

For  the  Jewish  people  it  was  a  vital  question 
what  attitude  the  dominant  circles  and  especially 
the  family  of  the  high  priest  would  take  toward 
the  new  intellectual  force.  The  influence  of  the 
high  priest  was  tremendous.  As  a  result  of  the 
central  position  which  religion  held  in  Judaism, 
whose  one  and  all  it  was,  the  highest  functionary 
in  the  religious  congregation  was  inevitably  the 
first  personage  in  popular  life  also ;  besides,  the 
office  of  high  priest  was  the  only  permanent  na- 
tional institution  which  had  its  foundation  within 
itself,  independent  of  the  heathen  secular  power. 
We  are  nowhere  informed  that  the  Persian  or 
Egyptian  governments  interfered  in  the  least  with 
the  appointment  to  the  office  of  high  priest,  or 
even  made  it  dependent  upon  their  confirma- 
tion ;  it  was  evidently  regarded  as  a  Jewish  local 
affair. 

Thus  the  people  and  the  heathen  secular  power 
grew  accustomed  to  regarding  the  high  priest  as 
the  very  head  and  representative  of  the  nation,— 
we  learn  from  a  casual  note  in  Josephus  that  the 
Egyptian  Government  put  also  the  entire  financial 
management  into  the  hands  of  the  high  priest, 
who  had  to  deliver  to  the  Egyptian  Government 
the  sum  fixed  as  annual  tribute  and  was  held 
responsible  for  it.  Accordingly  it  must  be  re- 
garded as  peculiarly  fortunate  that  the  office  of 
high  priest  in  the  most  critical  period  was  in  the 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE    OF  ISRAEL.        183 

hands  of  two  worthy  and  truly  pious  men :  Simon 
II.,  of  whom  his  contemporary,  Jesus  Sirach, 
gives  such  a  gratifying  characterization,  and 
above  all  his  son  and  successor,  Onias  III.,  a  really 
luminous  figure,  who  commanded  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  even  his  enemies  and  the  heathen, 
and  who  stood  a  steadfast  rock  and  a  fortress  of 
law  and  faith  in  the  midst  of  the  surging  and 
foaming  flood. 

This  is  perhaps  the  proper  place  to  consider  a 
local  Jewish  phenomenon  which  is  suddenly  pres- 
ent about  the  end  of  the  second  century  without 
our  having  any  positive  reports  regarding  its  ori- 
gin :  this  is  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees.  It  is 
worthy  of  note  that  the  first  Book  of  the  Macca- 
bees, an  historical  authority  of  prime  importance 
for  us,  nowhere  mentions  them,  although  we  re- 
peatedly think  we  have  our  hands  on  them.  On 
the  other  hand  they  appear  in  the  reign  of  the 
third  Maccabee  as  complete  and  finished  phenom- 
ena, and  from  this  time  on  the  whole  of  Jewish 
history  turns  about  the  opposition  between  these 
two  rival  tendencies.  It  is  therefore  indispen- 
sable for  us  to  form  a  clear  conception  of  them 
both. 

According  to  the  prevailing  view,  which  has 
been  influenced  by  the  accounts  of  the  Talmud, 
the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees  are  two  Jewish 
sects,  and  their  opposition  purely  religio-dogmatic 
but  this  view  cannot  stand  in  the  face  of  the  old- 
est and  most  reliable  accounts. 


1 84    HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

It  is  easiest  to  form  an  historically  correct  con- 
ception of  the  Sadducees.  The  very  name  is  sig- 
nificant :  it  marks  them  as  Zadokidse  (of  the  fam- 
ily of  Zadok).  The  Zadokidse  are  the  family  from 
which  the  high  priest  is  chosen,  and  therefore  the 
highest  nobility  of  Israel, — we  have  in  the  Saddu- 
cees the  party  of  the  aristocracy,  the  Jewish  he- 
reditary nobility.  The  Sadducees  are  primarily 
a  purely  political  party  ;  they  are  the  ruling  fami- 
lies whose  business  is  the  care  for  public  affairs. 
They  do  not  concern  themselves  much  about 
heaven,  but  devote  themselves  to  being  comfort- 
able on  the  earth  ;  they  are  the  officials,  the  dip- 
lomats, the  councillors  of  the  secular  state,  the 
real  support  and  the  most  faithful  adherents  of 
the  Maccabean  princes.  If  the  demands  of  the 
heavenly  king  are  not  reconcilable  with  those  of 
the  earthly  king,  they  decide  for  the  latter  ;  they 
are  not  so  strict  about  law  and  religion  if  only 
state  and  people  are  maintained  and  prosper. 
Improbable  as  it  may  sound,  they  are  the  real  pa- 
triots and  the  national  party  with  the  motto  : 
Israel  above  all  !  Israel's  honor,  Israel's  dignity, 
Israel's  freedom,  are  their  guiding  stars. 

Their  antipodes,  the  Pharisees,  have  accordingly 
been  represented  as  simple  democrats,  the  popular 
party,  and  it  is  undeniable  that  their  influence 
upon  the  people  was  tremendous  and  that  the 
people  saw  in  them  their  intellectual  leaders  ; 
but  they  were  anything  but  democratic.  The 
most  hidebound  aristocrat,  the  narrowest  county 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        185 

squire  did  not  meet  the  people  with  the  scornful 
contempt  shown  by  the  Pharisees  for  the  "am 
haarez,"  which  to  them  were  scarcely  more  than 
cattle. 

It  is  the  Pharisees  who  constitute  an  exclusively 
religious  sect,  which  knows  no  political  interests  ; 
their  motto  is  :  The  law  must  be  fulfilled  even  if 
Israel  is  ruined  by  it.  Utterly  blind  to  the  most 
elementary  requirements  of  an  actual  state  and  of 
political  life,  they  judge  everything  from  a  purely 
theoretical  theological  standpoint ;  whatever  con- 
tradicts the  letter  of  the  law  is  evil  and  must  be 
combated  to  the  death,  even  though  the  most 
vital  interests  of  Israel  are  at  stake.  The  very 
name  is  highly  significant.  "  Peruschim,"  or  in 
the  Aramaic  popular  idiom,  "perischin,"  means 
the  "  set  apart,"  the  separatists.  Separation  from 
all  that  was  heathen  had  been  since  the  time  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah  the  very  vital  nerve  of  Jewish 
piety,  and  this  is  the  object  of  the  whole  ceremo- 
nial law.  The  Pharisees  carried  out  this  purpose 
with  unswerving  energy  and  to  its  utmost  con- 
sequences ;  they  are  the  virtuosi  of  religion  and 
piety,  whose  calling  it  is  to  fulfil  vicariously  as  it 
were  what  God  demands  of  every  Israelite,  but 
what  the  common  man  under  the  demands  of  daily 
life  cannot  perform,  the  most  complete,  the  most 
rigorous,  and  the  most  scrupulous  observance  of 
the  law,  and  not  simply  of  the  written  law,  but 
of  all  the  details  derived  from  it  partly  by  the  de- 
mands of  practise  and  partly  by  theoretical  subtil- 


1 86   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

izing.  The  Pharisees  are  entirely  isolated  from 
the  world  and  live  exclusively  in  their  ideas  ;  but 
the  fact  that  they  have  an  idea  behind  them, 
which  they  bear  and  by  which  they  are  borne  is 
their  strength,  and  in  it  lies  the  secret  of  their 
power ;  they  are  the  personified  genius  of  Judaism 
and  one  of  the  strongest  evidences  of  the  omnip- 
otence of  idealism.  As  opposed  to  the  practical 
realism  of  the  Sadducees  they  represent  a  tran- 
scendental idealism,  to  which  facts  are  nothing, 
ideas  everything.  In  Pharisaism  and  the  Tal- 
mud we  have  the  outcome  of  the  directions  which 
Judaism  took  under  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, — this 
fact  was  realized,  and  hence  the  tremendous 
moral  influence  of  the  Pharisees  ;  they  destroyed 
the  newly  rising  Jewish  State,  but  they  saved 
Judaism. 

But  it  is  time  to  return  to  our  history.  Young 
Ptolemy  V.,  from  whom  Antiochus  took  Pales- 
tine, was,  as  will  be  remembered,  under  Roman 
guardianship.  After  Hannibal  had  been  finally 
subdued,  and  Philip  of  Macedon  also  defeated  in 
the  battle  of  Cynoscephalse,  197  B.  C.,  Antiochus 
considered  it  advisable  to  make  some  concession 
to  the  Roman  demands ;  therefore  he  betrothed 
his  daughter  Cleopatra  to  young  Ptolemy,  and 
promised  to  give  her  the  conquered  province  as 
dowry.  The  marriage  was  performed  in  the  year 
193  B.  C.,  but  Antiochus  had  no  thought  of  keep- 
ing his  word  ;  he  did  indeed  give  his  daughter 
the  half  of  the  revenues  for  pin  money,  but  the 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE    OF   ISRAEL.        l8/ 

province  remained  in  Syrian  hands.  But  his  hour 
had  come. 

In  the  year  190  B.  C.,  in  the  murderous  battle 
at  Magnesia  on  the  Sipylus,  the  thoroughly  hol- 
low and  innerly  rotten  glory  of  the  Seleucidae 
sank  in  the  dust  before  the  Koman  swords,  and 
the  only  care  of  Antiochus  was  thenceforth  to 
comply  with  the  enormous  demands  of  Rome. 
While  raising  forced  loans  from  the  temples  for 
this  purpose  he  was  slain  in  Elymais  by  the  en- 
raged populace.  His  son  and  successor,  Seleucus 
IV.,  a  quite  insignificant  and  indolent  fellow,  ac- 
cepted as  an  unfortunate  inheritance  the  obliga- 
tion to  the  Romans  and  fulfilled  it  in  a  similar 
fashion. 

And  now  once  more  we  learn  something  direct 
about  Judea.  Here  too  Hellenism  had  made  im- 
mense progress  even  among  the  priests.  There 
were  not  a  few  of  them  who  had  already  adopted 
Greek  names  and  could  scarcely  wait  for  the 
time  when  Jerusalem  should  be  a  Greek  city 
and  they  should  be  free  from  the  troublesome 
restraint  of  the  law  and  of  Jewish  life.  There- 
fore they  hated  bitterly  the  pious  and  loyal  high 
priest  Onias  and  intrigued  against  him  in  every 
possible  way.  The  chief  of  this  Hellenistic  party, 
a  priest  by  the  name  of  Simon,  called  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Syrian  officials  to  the  treasures  of  the 
temple  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  fact  Seleucus  sent 
a  certain  Heliodorus  to  Jerusalem  to  look  after 
things  and  to  materially  lighten  the  temple  trea- 


1 88   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

sury.  The  purpose  was  never  accomplished  :  the 
second  Book  of  Maccabees  tells  a  marvelous 
tale  of  how  three  angels  checked  the  plundering 
Heliodorus  in  his  course.  Now  Simon  denounced 
Onias  as  a  conspirator  and  traitor,  and  as  the  Sy- 
rian officials  gave  him  all  possible  support  it  came 
to  bloodshed  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem.  At 
this  Onias  himself  started  upon  the  way  to  An- 
tioch  in  order  to  represent  his  and  the  people's 
cause  in  person.  Meantime  there  had  been  a 
change  of  rulers  there.  Heliodorus  had  poisoned 
Seleucus  and  raised  himself  to  the  throne.  The 
rightful  heir,  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Seleucus, 
had  been  sent  to  Rome  as  a  hostage ;  then  the 
younger  brother  of  Seleucus,  Antiochus,  over- 
threw the  regicide,  but  kept  the  throne  for  him- 
self, calling  himself  Antiochus  IV.  Epiphanes. 
This  took  place  in  the  summer  of  175  B.  C. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  became  a  most  fateful 
personage  for  Jewish  history,  and  there  are  still 
disputes  as  to  what  his  real  motives  were.  Even 
to  his  contemporaries  this  prince  was  a  psycho- 
logical riddle.  The  great  historian  Polybius, 
who  knew  him  personally,  gives  a  detailed  charac- 
terization of  him,  showing  forth  the  most  con- 
tradictory traits.  Popular  wit  explained  the 
matter  by  changing  his  name  Epiphanes  to  Epi- 
manes,  that  is,  the  crazy,  the  fool,  and  in  fact 
the  whole  description  of  Polybius  gives  the  im- 
pression that  Antiochus  was  not  really  malicious 
and  corrupt,  but  rather  afflicted  with  a  mental 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        189 

defect,  whimsical  and  irresponsible  and  not  accus- 
tomed to  submit  to  any  sort  of  restraint.  There 
even  appears  in  him  a  leaning  to  coarse  humor 
which  we  may  almost  characterize  as  waggish- 
ness,  and  which  is  indeed  very  unbecoming  in  a 
king.  They  are  regular  boys'  capers  which  An- 
tiochus  cut  for  his  own  royal  entertainment. 
We  need  not  expect  to  find  any  more  serious 
thought  or  any  more  profound  purpose  in  this 
thoroughly  superficial  and  flippant  character. 

Before  such  a  ruler  Onias  was  to  plead  his  case. 
But  he  was  accompanied  to  Antioch  by  his 
younger  brother,  Jason.  As  his  Greek  name  in- 
dicates, Jason  was  a  leader  of  the  Hellenistic  fac- 
tion :  he  promised  Antiochus  a  great  sum  of  money 
and  an  energetic  Hellenizing  of  the  Jews  besides, 
if  he  would  depose  his  brother  and  make  him 
high  priest.  Antiochus  could  not  resist  such  a 
temptation  :  Onias  was  detained  in  Antioch,  and 
Jason  returned  to  Jerusalem  as  newly  appointed 
high  priest. 

The  work  of  Hellenization  was  now  begun  un- 
der high  pressure  :  theaters  and  gymnasia  were 
built  at  Jerusalem,  so  that  not  even  the  priests 
paid  any  more  attention  to  the  altar  and  its  ser- 
vice, but  played  ball  and  other  games  and  pur- 
sued various  physical  exercises  in  the  gymnasium. 
This  Jewish  high  priest  went  so  far  in  his  catho- 
licity as  to  send  a  sacrifice  to  the  Tyrian  Melkarth. 
When  Antiochus  on  a  certain  occasion  came  to 
Jerusalem  he  was  received  with  great  rejoicings 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

and  welcomed  in  a  wholly  Greek  fashion,  with 
games  and  torch  dances. 

But  the  glory  of  Jason  was  not  to  last  long. 
Only  three  years  passed  when  a  certain  Menelaus 
outbid  him  and  offered  Antiochus  still  greater 
sums  ;  forthwith  Jason  was  deposed  and  the  more 
generous  Menelaus  appointed.  Menelaus  was  a 
brother  to  Simon,  who  is  already  known  to  us  as 
the  chief  opponent  of  Onias  ;  he  raged  like  a  wild 
beast  against  the  faithful,  according  to  the  dras- 
tic expression  of  the  second  Book  of  the  Macca- 
bees. But  soon  he  too  was  in  close  straits. 
When  Antiochus  tried  to  collect  the  larger  sum 
promised  he  was  unable  to  pay,  and  Antiochus 
forthwith  took  action  against  him  in  Antioch  and 
deposed  him.  But  Menelaus  was  not  at  a  loss 
what  to  do.  When  the  king  had  left  his  capital 
he  bribed  the  officials  who  had  had  the  decision  in 
the  king's  absence,  had  Onias  murdered  and  was 
reinstated  in  his  office  ;  a  deputation  which  ac- 
cused him  was  simply  executed.  So  Menelaus 
was  again  high  priest,  and  pursued  his  career 
more  shamelessly  than  before. 

But  now  we  must  again  cast  a  glance  at  the 
political  occurrences.  Ptolemy  V.,  husband  of  the 
Syrian  Cleopatra,  sister  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
died  in  180  B.  C.  and  his  widow  seven  years  later. 
Antiochus  offered  himself  to  his  two  Egyptian 
nephews  as  guardian,  but  the  Egyptians  would 
have  none  of  this,  demanding  back  instead  Pal- 
estine as  the  inheritance  of  the  deceased  queen. 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        191 

So  there  resulted  wars  between  Antiochus  and 
his  nephews  for  four  successive  years.  This  was 
at  a  time  when  the  Romans  were  engaged  in  the 
second  Macedonian  War  against  King  Perseus, 
and  could  not  therefore  pay  any  attention  to  Ori- 
ental affairs. 

The  fortunes  of  these  Syro-Egyptian  wars  do 
not  belong  here  ;  in  the  second  of  them,  170  B.  C., 
Antiochus  was  reported  dead,  and  the  deposed 
Jason  seized  the  opportunity  to  recover  the  high- 
priesthood  by  force.  He  effected  a  breach  in  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  and  inflicted  dreadful  slaugh- 
ter, but  was  unable  to  capture  it ;  he  was  obliged 
to  flee  and  died  in  Sparta  after  a  fugitive  life  full 
of  adventure.  Antiochus  treated  this  as  a  rebel- 
lion against  his  authority  :  returning  from  Egypt 
frustrated,  he  vented  his  wrath  upon  the  Jews, 
entered  Jerusalem,  plundered  the  temple  and 
played  fearful  havoc  there  ;  Menelaus  was  more 
firmly  established  in  his  favor  than  ever.  But 
two  years  later  an  end  was  to  be  put  to  his  am- 
bition. In  the  battle  of  Pydna  the  Eomans  had 
destroyed  the  Macedonian  Empire,  and  now  two 
words  from  the  Roman  ambassador  Popilius 
Laenas  were  sufficient  to  make  Antiochus  resign 
his  Egyptian  schemes  forever. 

Again  the  Jews  had  to  endure  the  impotent 
wrath  of  the  king  against  fate  :  a  still  worse 
massacre  was  perpetrated  in  Jerusalem  ;  the  whole 
city  was  plundered,  its  walls  razed,  and  a  Syrian 
garrison  put  into  the  city.  And  now  Antiochus 


IQ2        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

considered  the  occasion  ripe  for  a  master  stroke. 
On  the  27th  of  October,  168  B.  C.,  he  issued  the 
insane  decree  which  was  intended  to  exterminate 
Judaism  root  and  branch.  All  the  sacred  writings 
of  the  Jews  were  to  be  delivered  up  and  destroyed, 
the  exercise  of  the  Jewish  religion  was  forbidden 
on  pain  of  death,  all  the  Jews  were  to  sacrifice  to 
the  Greek  gods  and  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  was 
to  become  a  sanctuary  of  Olympian  Zeus.  The 
abomination  of  desolation  was  actually  established 
in  the  sacred  place,  and  on  the  25th  of  December, 
168  B.  C.,  the  first  sacrifice  was  offered  there  to 
Zeus — whether  by  the  high  priest  Menelaus  we 
do  not  know.  The  commands  of  the  king  were 
executed  with  unexampled  severity  and  the  subor- 
dinate functionaries  of  authority  evidently  took 
fiendish  delight  in  harassing  and  tormenting  in 
every  imaginable  way  the  Jews  who  were  loyal 
to  the  law  ;  when  one  reads  the  accounts  in  the 
Books  of  Maccabees  one  is  reminded  involun- 
tarily of  the  dragonnades  under  Louis  XIV. 

Thus  the  Jews  were  to  be  made  Greeks  by  gar- 
risons of  occupation  and  executioners  ;  but  now 
the  measure  was  full  and  with  elemental  power 
the  rebellion  burst  forth. 

The  signal  for  revolt  was  given  by  Mattathias, 
an  aged  and  respected  priest  in  the  little  city  of 
Modein.  He  slew  the  captain  who  was  sent  to 
Hellenize  Modein  and  tore  down  the  altar  of  Zeus. 
Then  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice  :  "  Whoever  is 
zealous  for  the  law  and  will  remain  faithful  to 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        193 

the  covenant,  let  him  follow  me  !  "  and  marched 
with  those  who  joined  him  to  the  mountains. 
The  example  had  its  effect.  Everywhere  the  pious 
rebelled  and  withdrew  into  the  mountains  and 
wastes,  a  veritable  "  church  of  the  desert." 

Such  a  band  was  attacked  by  Syrian  troops  on 
the  Sabbath  ;  faithful  to  the  law,  they  let  them- 
selves be  slaughtered  without  raising  a  hand  on 
the  sacred  day  of  rest.  Thereupon  Mattathias 
supported  by  popular  decree  promulgated  the 
regulation  that  they  were  to  defend  themselves 
even  on  the  Sabbath,  and  must  do  it  when  at- 
tacked. More  and  more  pious  enthusiasts  gath- 
ered about  him  as  a  recognized  leader.  Now 
Mattathias  marched  about  the  country  openly 
destroying  the  altars  and  taking  the  hostile  ini- 
tiative against  heathen  and  Hellenists.  But  ad- 
vanced in  years  as  he  was,  he  died  in  167  B.  C.,  in 
the  very  first  beginnings  of  the  agitation,  leaving 
the  leadership  to  his  son  Judas. 

Judas  MaccabaBus  is  probably  the  greatest  war- 
rior whom  the  people  of  Israel  ever  produced  ;  in 
him  the  primitive  heroic  spirit  of  Israel  is  revived. 
But  he  achieved  more  than  ever  it  did.  In  the 
course  of  four  hundred  years  the  people  had  be- 
come entirely  unused  to  war  and  weapons,  yet 
with  his  volunteers,  supported  by  nothing  but 
their  faith  in  God  and  in  the  final  victory  of  His 
holy  cause,  Judas  scattered  the  largest  armies 
and  won  victory  after  victory.  He  was  in  truth 
a  warrior  of  God,  who  regarded  war  as  a  sacred 


194       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

matter  and  drew  his  sword  only  for  God  and  the 
oppressed  faith;  in  this  his  pure  and  ideal  inspira- 
tion combined  with  such  genius  in  tactics  and 
strategy  he  calls  to  mind  spontaneously  the  great 
champion  of  religion,  Gustavus  Adolphus.  His 
picture  is  spotless  :  he  did  nothing  that  could  throw 
an  unfavorable  light  upon  his  character  or  tarnish 
his  memory.  He  must  be  reckoned  among  the 
most  ideal  figures  in  all  history. 

Now  that  a  new  element  had  come  into  the 
matter  with  this  youthful  and  fiery  soul,  the  Sy- 
rians too  gathered  their  strength  together.  The 
commandant  of  Jerusalem,  Apollonius,  collected 
all  the  available  troops,  but  was  defeated  by  Judas 
and  himself  slain ;  Judas  wore  all  his  life  the 
sword  of  the  defeated  opponent.  Seron,  com- 
mandant of  Syria,  fared  no  better ;  despite  the 
superiority  of  his  numbers,  the  host  were  scattered 
at  Bethhoron,  and  Judea  was  free.  This  took 
place  in  the  year  166  B.  C. 

Now  Antiochus  realized  that  earnest  measures 
were  necessary  against  the  Jewish  rebels  ;  he 
himself  crossed  the  Euphrates  to  plunder  the  rich 
temples  there  ;  Lysias,  the  imperial  vicegerent, 
was  to  suppress  the  rebellion  with  half  of  the 
forces  of  the  empire.  At  first  Lysias  sent  three 
experienced  generals  :  Ptolemy,  Nicanor,  and 
Gorgias,  with  nearly  fifty  thousand  men  to  Judea 
to  exterminate  the  Jews,  and  so  impossible  did 
resistance  to  this  mighty  force  appear  that  dealers 
appeared  from  all  quarters  to  buy  up  the  captive 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        195 

Jews  at  an  extraordinarily  low  price  fixed  in  ad- 
vance. But  Judas  did  not  lose  courage  nor  his 
faith  in  God.  He  was  stationed  with  his  forces 
at  Mizpah,  the  Syrians  at  Emmaus.  Gorgias 
planned  to  surprise  the  Jewish  camp  by  night 
with  a  small  force,  but  Judas  anticipated  him  and 
undertook  the  initiative  with  an  attack  on  the 
Syrian  camp  which  resulted  in  a  total  defeat  for 
the  Syrians  and  the  great  army  fled  in  a  lamen- 
table condition. 

Then  the  imperial  regent  Lysias  himself  under- 
took the  command  and  invaded  Judea  from  the 
south  with  sixty-five  thousand  men.  Judas  had 
only  ten  thousand  with  which  to  oppose  him, 
but  again  the  victory  was  to  the  death-defy- 
ing army  ;  at  Bethsura,  southward  of  Jerusalem, 
Lysias  too  was  defeated  and  had  to  seek  safety  in 
flight. 

After  this  victory  Judas  considered  the  time 
come  to  wipe  out  the  insult  done  the  sanctuary  : 
he  marched  to  Jerusalem,  and  beneath  the  very 
eyes  of  the  Syrian  garrison,  whom  Judas  held  in 
check,  the  temple  was  consecrated  anew,  all  the 
abominations  of  idolatry  were  removed,  and  on 
the  25th  of  December,  165  B.  C.,  that  is  just  three 
years  after  the  first  sacrifice  had  been  offered  to 
Olympian  Zeus,  once  more  a  burnt  offering  was 
smoking  according  to  the  regulations  of  the  law 
of  Moses,  a  sweet  savor  to  God,  and  this  day  be- 
came a  fixed  festival  for  Israel. 

Judas  restored  the  overthrown  walls  of  Jeru- 


196       HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

salem  and  fortified  also  Bethsura,  where  he  had 
won  that  magnificent  victory,  in  order  to  block 
the  approach  to  Jerusalem  from  the  south.  But 
this  great  success  had  serious  results  :  everywhere 
in  the  surrounding  districts  began  persecutions  of 
the  Jews,  the  Syrians  attacking  and  slaying  them. 
Accordingly  Judas  with  his  two  brothers,  Jona- 
than and  Simon,  marched  about  chastising  the 
heathen  and  bringing  the  persecuted  Jews  to 
Judea  and  Jerusalem,  where  they  were  received 
with  rejoicings. 

But  there  was  still  a  sharp  thorn  in  their  flesh  : 
the  citadel  of  Jerusalem  was  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  Syrians,  and  the  garrison  did  the  Jews  much 
damage.  So  Judas  set  about  besieging  them. 
At  this  there  came  urgent  calls  for  help  to  Antioch 
especially  from  the  Hellenistic  Jews,  and  Lysias 
determined  to  use  all  his  forces  to  suppress  the 
rebellion.  He  gathered  100,000  infantry,  20,000 
cavalry,  and  32  elephants,  and  took  to  the  war 
with  him  the  young  king,  Antiochus  V. ,  who  had 
succeeded  his  recently  deceased  father.  Again 
the  attack  was  made  from  the  south.  The  Syri- 
ans besieged  Bethsura,  and  Judas  was  therefore 
obliged  to  leave  Jerusalem  and  hasten  to  the  aid 
of  the  hard-pressed  fortress. 

The  forces  met  at  Bethzachariah.  Although 
the  Jews  again  performed  marvels  of  bravery — 
Eleazar,  a  brother  of  Judas,  fighting  his  way 
through  the  whole  host  to  a  particularly  large 
elephant  upon  which  he  supposed  the  young  king 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        197 

to  be,  killed  the  elephant  and  was  himself  crushed 
to  death  by  the  animal  in  its  fall — they  were 
utterly  defeated  and  themselves  besieged  in  Je- 
rusalem. Bethsura  fell,  and  Jerusalem  also  was 
in  great  straits,  when  events  in  the  Syrian  Empire 
brought  relief. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes  on  his  death-bed  had 
formally  bequeathed  to  his  general  Philip  the 
guardianship  of  his  son  together  with  the  regency. 
Accordingly  Lysias  made  peace  with  the  Jews  in 
the  name  of  the  young  king.  They  were  granted 
free  exit  from  the  city  and  perfectly  unrestricted 
exercise  of  their  religion  for  all  time,  but  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  were  razed  to  the  ground  ;  the  fort- 
resses, of  course,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the 
Syrians.  In  addition,  Lysias  executed  the  high 
priest  Menelaus  as  the  real  instigator  of  the  whole 
troublesome  affair,  and  then  marched  upon  An- 
tioch  where  he  quickly  conquered  Philip.  This 
was  in  the  year  163  B.  C. 

With  this  event  we  are  at  a  turning-point  in 
affairs.  The  object  for  which  the  sword  had  been 
drawn  was  attained,  and  religious  freedom  for 
all  times  recognized.  In  fact,  there  was  one 
group,  the  ' '  pious  "  as  they  have  been  especially 
called,  standing  for  exclusively  religious  interests, 
who  were  satisfied  with  this  and  wished  nothing 
further.  If  the  Syrians  had  proceeded  with  mod- 
eration and  good  sense,  all  would  probably  have 
remained  in  statu  quo,  and  Judea  would  not  have 
thought  of  shaking  off  the  Syrian  yoke.  But 


198        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

shortsightedness  and  infatuation  threw  every- 
thing into  confusion  again. 

In  the  year  162  B.  C.,  Demetrius,  the  son  of  Seleu- 
cus  IV.,  the  rightful  heir,  returned  to  his  coun- 
try, and  soon  Lysias  and  Antiochus  V.  ended 
their  careers  under  the  ax.  Now  came  the  ques- 
tion of  appointing  a  successor  in  the  high-priest- 
hood. An  Aaronite  named  Alcimus,  according- 
ly in  this  respect  qualified  for  the  office,  applied 
for  the  tiara  to  Demetrius  as  sovereign  ;  Deme- 
trius conferred  it  upon  him  and  sent  Bacchides 
with  some  troops  to  Judea. 

The  " pious"  were  the  very  ones  who  met 
Alcimus  with  confidence  ;  but  Alcimus  was  a 
Hellenist  through  and  through,  and  began  his 
official  career  with  an  immoderate  attack  upon 
the  "  pious,"  so  that  Judas  Maccabseus  was  com- 
pelled to  resort  to  the  sword  again  in  self-defense. 
Alcimus  did  not  feel  secure  and  asked  Demetrius 
for  reinforcements.  Nicanor  was  sent  to  Judea 
with  a  large  army.  He  tried  first  to  get  posses- 
sion of  Judas  by  cunning,  but  Judas  did  not  go 
into  the  trap,  and  so  they  met  in  the  battle  at 
Caphar-salama.  Once  more  victory  was  favora- 
ble to  Judas  ;  Nicanor  was  obliged  to  retreat,  and 
on  his  transit  through  Jerusalem  uttered  the 
most  terrible  threats  against  city  and  temple. 

Strengthened  by  new  forces,  Nicanor  took  posi- 
tion at  Bethhoron.  Judas  had  but  three  thousand 
men  at  his  disposal,  but  full  of  confidence  in  God 
he  threw  himself  upon  the  superior  force  of  the 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        199 

enemy.  On  the  13th  of  March  there  was  a  battle 
at  Adasar ;  at  the  very  beginning  of  it  Nicanor 
fell,  and  the  whole  army  poured  out  of  the  coun- 
try in  wild  flight.  So  marvelous  was  this  vic- 
tory, so  evidently  was  the  hand  of  God  in  it,  that 
the  day  was  celebrated  as  the  day  of  Nicanor. 

By  this  time  Judas  was  convinced  that  only 
separation  from  the  Syrian  Empire  could  give  to 
the  people  peace  and  permanence  to  religion,  and 
this,  political  and  national  independence,  but  only 
as  a  guaranty  and  indispensable  condition  of  reli- 
gious freedom,  becomes  henceforth  the  conscious 
object  of  his  struggle  and  contention. 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Adasar,  Judas 
entered  into  negotiations  with  Home,  sending  two 
ambassadors  to  the  senate  who  were  to  establish 
a  friendly  alliance  with  Koine  ;  the  senate,  to 
which  any  weakening  of  the  Syrian  power  was 
welcome,  gladly  agreed  to  this.  But  when  the 
ambassadors  returned  from  Kome  all  was  lost  for 
the  time  being. 

Scarcely  had  Demetrius  received  the  news  of 
the  defeat  at  Adasar  when  in  the  very  next  month 
he  sent  Bacchides  with  a  new  and  powerful  army 
after  Judas.  Now  the  case  seemed  so  hopeless 
that  Judas's  troops  dwindled  to  800  men.  But 
Judas  preferred  an  honorable  death  to  a  life  in 
disgrace.  With  his  little  band  of  desperate  men 
he  undertook  the  death  struggle  at  Elasa  ;  all 
day  long  the  heroic  band  held  its  own  and  even 
won  some  points  of  advantage,  but  toward  even- 


2OO       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

ing  Judas  fell,  and  with  that  the  fate  of  the  day 
was  determined.  His  supporters  were  able  to 
carry  oif  in  safety  the  corpse  of  the  fallen  hero  and 
to  bury  him  honorably  in  the  tomb  of  his  fathers 
at  Modein ;  so  even  this  last  battle  of  Judas  was 
not  a  real  defeat,  but  his  followers  could  not  hide 
from  themselves  the  fact  that  they  were  beaten 
and  defenseless. 

Now  Alcimus  continued  his  reign  of  terror,  and 
the  Syrian  troops  and  commandants  gave  him 
hearty  assistance  in  hunting  down  and  murder- 
ing those  of  the  national  party.  The  latter  chose 
Jonathan,  the  younger  brother  of  Judas,  as  their 
leader  and  withdrew  into  the  desert  of  Judah  and 
to  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan.  A  third  brother, 
John,  was  indeed  slain  by  treachery,  but  Bacchides 
could  win  no  permanent  advantages  in  this 
guerilla  war  ;  therefore  he  had  a  number  of  cities 
fortified  and  occupied  by  strong  Syrian  garrisons 
and  the  children  of  the  most  prominent  Jewish 
families  taken  as  hostages  to  the  citadel  of  Jeru- 
salem. And  when  finally  Alcimus  died  sud- 
denly of  apoplexy  during  the  execution  of  some 
alteration  on  the  temple,  Bacchides  left  the  coun- 
try in  May,  160  B.  C. 

Jonathan,  who  of  course  continued  the  struggle 
against  the  Hellenists  with  all  the  means  at  his 
disposal,  must  have  made  great  progress  in  the 
next  two  years,  for  in  158  B.  C.  the  Hellenists 
again  apply  to  Demetrius,  who  again  sends  Bac- 
chides into  the  country. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        2OI 

Again  Jonathan  and  Simon  withdrew  to  the  des- 
ert and  carried  on  a  guerilla  warfare  so  success- 
fully and  so  skilfully  that  Bacchides  caused  the 
leaders  of  the  Hellenistic  party,  who  had  persuaded 
him  to  undertake  the  hopeless  task,  to  be  exe- 
cuted, and  concluded  with  Jonathan  a  peace  which 
gave  the  latter  quite  his  own  way  in  local  affairs. 

The  Hellenistic  administration  in  Jerusalem, 
indeed,  remained  under  the  wing  of  the  Syrian 
garrison,  but  12  miles  from  Jerusalem,  at  Mich- 
mas,  Jonathan  set  up  a  regular  rival  government 
and  was  soon  de  facto  ruler  of  the  country.  And 
his  highest  hopes  were  to  be  surpassed  by  the  favor 
of  circumstances. 

Demetrius  was  an  energetic  monarch,  and  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh  of  his  neighbors.  And  now  an 
unparalleled  comedy  was  played.  In  Smyrna 
lived  an  obscure  young  man,  named  Alexander 
Balas,  who  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  Anti- 
ochus  Epiphanes,  and  claimed  to  be  his  son.  The 
kings  of  Egypt,  Cappadocia  and  Pergamon  ac- 
tually backed  this  young  man  and  set  him  up  as 
claimant  to  the  throne,  and  the  disreputable  com- 
bination took  the  field  against  Demetrius  in  the 
summer  of  153  B.  C. 

Now  Jonathan  was  a  welcome  ally.  First  De- 
metrius courted  him,  appointed  him  Syrian  prefect 
and  returned  the  hostages.  Jonathan  immedi- 
ately appeared  before  Jerusalem,  received  the  hos- 
tages, expelled  the  Hellenists  and  began  directly 
to  rebuild  the  walls  torn  down  by  Antiochus  and 


202        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Lysias  ;  only  Bethsura  remained  in  the  hands  of 
his  opponents. 

But  Balas  too  made  promises,  appointed  Jona- 
than high  priest,  and  sent  him  the  purple  robe 
and  golden  crown.  Jonathan  had  no  hesitation 
at  receiving  the  pallium  from  such  besmirched 
hands  ;  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  in  the  year 
153  B.  C.,  he  appeared  in  public  for  the  first  time 
as  high  priest,  and  from  this  day  the  office  of  high 
priest  was  reserved  to  the  family  of  the  Maccabees 
until  its  extinction. 

Thus  Jonathan  was  recognized  in  fact  as  ruler 
of  Judea.  He  remained  faithful  to  Alexander 
and  had  no  occasion  to  regret  it ;  in  the  year  150 
B.  C.  Demetrius  fell  and  Alexander  Balas  was 
king  in  the  empire  of  the  Seleucidae.  The  lucky 
swindler  had  the  presumption  to  sue  to  Ptolemy 
for  the  hand  of  his  daughter  Cleopatra,  and  ac- 
tually received  it.  When  the  marriage  was  cele- 
brated, Jonathan  too  was  invited  and  was  over- 
whelmed with  honors  by  Alexander. 

From  this  weakling,  who  spent  his  reign  in  the 
most  vulgar  excesses,  there  was  no  danger  to  be 
expected  ;  but  in  the  year  147  B.  C.  Demetrius  II. , 
son  of  the  preceding  Demetrius,  appeared  as  claim- 
ant to  the  throne  against  Alexander.  Jonathan 
remained  on  the  side  of  Alexander  and  rendered 
him  important  aid  :  but  in  the  year  145  B.  C.  the 
adventurer  met  a  disgraceful  death  and  Demetrius 
II.  became  king. 

Jonathan  had  meantime  ventured  to  besiege  the 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        203 

citadel  of  Jerusalem,  when  he  was  summoned  to 
appear  before  Demetrius.  He  actually  presented 
himself,  but  did  not  immediately  raise  the  siege  ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  managed  to  frighten  Deme- 
trius into  fulfilling  all  previous  concessions  to  him 
and  received  considerable  extensions  of  his  terri- 
tory and  freedom  from  taxation.  Only  the  citadel 
of  Jerusalem  and  a  few  fortresses  remained  in 
Syrian  hands. 

Soon  Jonathan  was  able  to  show  his  gratitude. 
Demetrius  had  quickly  made  himself  odious,  and 
a  general  rebellion  broke  out  against  him. 
Trypho,  a  general  of  Alexander  Balas,  set  up  the 
latter's  little  son  as  anti-king  ;  even  the  troops  in 
Antioch  deserted  Demetrius,  who  was  in  such 
straits  that  he  appealed  to  Jonathan  for  help  and 
promised  him  in  return  the  evacuation  of  all  the 
remaining  places  held  by  Syrian  garrisons.  Jon- 
athan immediately  marched  to  his  aid,  and  his 
troops  succeeded  in  suppressing  the  rebellion  and 
in  establishing  Demetrius  upon  his  throne.  But 
now  that  the  danger  was  past,  Demetrius  had 
no  mind  to  keep  his  word.  Thereat  Jonathan 
espoused  the  cause  of  Trypho,  and  waged  war 
upon  Demetrius  so  successfully  that  Jewish  arms 
carried  victory  beyond  Damascus,  while  his 
brother  Simon  finally  captured  Bethsura,  so  that 
the  only  Syrian  garrison  remaining  was  that  in 
Jerusalem. 

Jonathan  sent  an  embassy  to  Rome  to  renew 
his  alliance,  and  also  made  a  treaty  with  Sparta. 


2O4       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Trypho  was  grateful  of  course  for  the  help  he  had 
received,  confirmed  the  previous  concessions  and 
added  new  ones.  But  as  the  advantage  turned 
more  and  more  to  his  side  he  became  suspicious  of 
the  growing  power  of  his  Jewish  friend  and  ally. 
Trypho  managed  to  persuade  Jonathan  that  the 
maintenance  of  so  large  an  army  was  unnecessary 
in  view  of  their  tried  friendship.  Jonathan  ac- 
tually allowed  himself  to  be  deceived,  dismissed 
his  troops,  and  with  only  one  thousand  men  went 
to  Trypho  at  Ptolemais.  Trypho  had  the  thou- 
sand men  cut  down,  took  Jonathan  prisoner,  and 
moved  immediately  upon  Jerusalem.  Simon,  the 
sole  surviving  brother,  came  out  to  meet  him ;  Try- 
pho told  him  that  he  had  a  financial  claim  against 
Jonathan,  and  that  he  would  release  Jonathan 
directly  if  the  money  were  paid  and  Jonathan's 
sons  given  as  hostages.  The  money  and  the 
hostages  were  actually  given  up  to  him,  but 
he  did  not  release  Jonathan  ;  on  the  contrary,  he 
attempted  to  take  Jerusalem  by  surprise,  but  this 
could  not  be  carried  out  because  of  a  sudden  great 
snowfall.  Thereupon  he  had  Jonathan  and  his 
sons  murdered,  and  returned  to  Syria.  This  hap- 
pened in  the  winter  of  143-142  B.  C. 

In  Jonathan  we  have  the  real  founder  of  the 
Maccabean  state.  He  is  not  to  be  compared  with 
his  brother  Judas  in  moral  greatness,  but  he  is  a 
gifted  statesman,  who  understood  how  to  reach 
his  ends  by  a  shrewd  use  of  circumstances,  an 
important  character  and  decidedly  a  great  man. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        2O5 

After  the  death  of  Jonathan  and  his  sons,  Simon 
was  his  recognized  successor.  Simon  naturally 
put  himself  into  touch  with  Demetrius,  and  re- 
ceived from  him  the  confirmation  of  all  previous 
concessions  and  in  future  entire  freedom  from 
tribute,  which  was  the  recognition  in  fact  of  the 
independence  of  the  Jews  from  the  Syrian  do- 
minion. Simon  captured  the  important  fortress 
of  Gazara,  and  finally,  on  the  23d  of  May,  142 
B.  C.,  the  citadel  of  Jerusalem  also  capitulated, 
and  Simon  celebrated  his  triumphal  entry  with 
great  pomp. 

Thus  the  last  trace  of  the  Syrian  overlordship 
was  extinguished,  and  Simon  was  the  sovereign 
ecclesiastical  and  secular  prince  of  the  Jews. 
And  this  fact  did  not  fail  to  receive  formal  and 
legal  sanction.  On  the  18th  of  September,  141 
B.  C.,  took  place  a  great  popular  assembly  in 
which  Simon  was  solemnly  confirmed  as  permanent 
prince  and  high  priest,  and  the  office  declared 
hereditary  in  his  family.  From  that  day  there  is 
again  a  national  Jewish  state,  and  the  Jews  now 
reckon  dates  from  the  high-priesthood  of  Simon. 
Rome,  too,  whither  Simon  immediately  turned, 
formally  and  solemnly  recognized  him  in  his 
offices. 

When  Simon's  father,  Mattathias,  took  the 
sword  twenty-six  years  before  certainly  no  one 
could  have  foreseen  the  outcome.  Will  not  the 
fact  that  the  movement  ended  otherwise  than  it 
began  finally  bring  down  a  judgment  upon  it  ? 


2O6        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

The  spirit  is  not  to  be  mocked,  and  nothing  can 
hope  for  permanence  which  contains  an  inner 
and  inherent  contradiction.  Soon  the  Maccabees 
found  themselves  compelled  to  combat  the  very 
spirit  which  had  carried  them  and  lifted  them  to 
the  throne  ;  but  the  idea  was  superior  to  violence, 
and  the  state  of  the  Maccabees  was  wrecked  upon 
this  inner  contradiction. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        2O? 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

FROM  SIMON  THE  MACCABEAN  TO  HEROD  THE  GREAT. 

IN  the  year  141  B.  C.  the  Maccabeans  had  ac- 
complished all  that  could  be  accomplished. 
Judea  was  actually  independent  of  the  Syrian 
Empire  and  this  independence  was  formally  ac- 
knowledged also  by  the  Syrians,  King  Antiochus 
VII.  Sidetes  having  conceded  to  Simon  even  the 
right  to  coin  money,  the  outward  sign  of  sover- 
eignty. Simon,  the  last  of  the  five  heroic 
brothers,  had  become  hereditary  prince  and  high 
priest,  the  clerical  revolt  had  finally  led  to  the 
establishment*  of  a  secular  state.  If  the  incon- 
gruity in  this  was  not  felt  at  first  it  was  due  to 
the  personality  of  Simon. 

Simon  was  a  genuinely  pontifical  and  at  the 
same  time  a  genuinely  royal  figure.  Upon  his 
venerable  gray  head  tiara  and  crown  could  be 
joined  without  ,any  evident  impropriety.  Of 
absolutely  pure  character  and  genuine  piety,  he 
exercised  his  sway  in  an  episcopal  spirit  as  the 
protector  of  right  and  faith,  of  law  and  justice  : 
one  recalls  spontaneously  the  ideal  figures  of  the 
clerical  princes  of  the  early  Middle  Ages  before 
the  Church  had  grown  worldly.  But  Simon  also 


2O8        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

conducted  his  civil  rule  with  circumspection  and 
on  a  large  scale,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  he 
conquered  Joppa  and  developed  and  improved  the 
harbor  there  with  great  pains  and  expense,  in 
order  thus  to  open  for  his  people  a  direct  outlet 
to  the  sea.  True,  Antiochus  VII.,  the  last  vigor- 
ous ruler  on  the  throne  of  the  SeleucidaB,  tried 
again,  with  shameful  disregard  of  his  royal  prom- 
ise, to  force  Judea  into  the  former  subjection 
to  the  Syrian  Empire ;  but  his  general,  Kende- 
beus,  was  so  decisively  defeated  by  Simon's  sons 
atModein,  the  birthplace  of  the  Maccabean  family, 
that  Simon  was  left  unmolested. 

Among  the  Maccabean  rulers  Simon  is  the 
most  brilliant  figure  and  the  noblest  personality, 
and  his  reign  one  of  the  happiest  periods  ever  ex- 
perienced by  Israel.  And  yet  it  was  to  close  with 
a  harsh  dissonance,  and  Simon,  like  all  four  of 
his  brothers,  was  to  die  a  violent  death. 

Simon  had  given  to  a  certain  Ptolemy,  com- 
mandant of  the  fortress  of  Dok,  near  Jericho, 
one  of  his  daughters  in  marriage ;  while  on  an 
inspection  trip  he  visited  his  son-in-law,  accom- 
panied by  his  two  sons,  and  during  a  banquet 
which  Ptolemy  gave  for  their  reception  he  had 
his  father-in-law  and  his  two  brothers-in-law  as- 
sassinated, in  February,  135  B.  C. 

Ptolemy  also  sent  out  assassins  against  Simon's 
other  son,  John,  surnamed  Hyrcanus  ;  but  news 
of  the  murder  had  already  reached  him  ;  he  im- 
mediately threw  himself  with  all  his  troops  into 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.         209 

Jerusalem  and  thus  saved  the  dominion  of  his 
house.  His  first  enterprise  was  of  course  to 
avenge  the  murder  of  his  father  and  his  brothers. 
He  marched  to  Dok  ;  but  his  aged  mother  was 
also  there,  and  upon  this  fact  Ptolemy  based  a 
fiendish  scheme. 

When  Hyrcanus  opened  the  siege,  this  monster 
brought  his  mother-in-law  upon  the  walls  half 
naked,  had  her  scourged  before  the  eyes  of  her 
son  till  the  blood  ran,  and  threatened  to  throw 
her  from  the  wall  unless  Hyrcanus  immediately 
desisted  from  the  siege.  The  mother,  indeed, 
conjured  her  son  to  ignore  her  torment :  she 
would  gladly  endure  the  most  terrible  death  if 
only  the  deserved  punishment  might  overtake 
the  murderer  of  her  husband  and  her  sons  ;  but 
Hyrcanus  desisted  from  the  siege  and  contented 
himself  with  investing  the  fortress.  And  as  the 
sabbatical  year  began  soon  after,  he  raised  the 
siege  entirely  and  withdrew. 

Ptolemy  now  slew  the  mother  also  and  fled  the 
land  of  Judea,  where  of  course  he  was  no  longer 
sa  f e.  But  Hyrcanus  was  to  suffer  an  even  heavier 
visitation  and  keener  sorrow.  Antiochus  Sidetes 
had  only  deferred  his  plans,  not  given  them  up  ; 
in  the  very  first  year  of  Hyrcanus's  rule,  135, 
B.  C.,  he  began  a  war  against  him  which  must 
have  lasted  several  years  and  brought  Judea  to 
the  verge  of  the  abyss. 

As  far  as  we  can  conclude  from  incidental  al- 
lusions, Antiochus  reconquered  the  whole  country 


210       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

and  finally  besieged  Jerusalem  for  more  than  a 
year.  A  terrible  famine  ensued  and  all  was  given 
up  for  lost  when  Hyrcanus  determined  to  treat, 
and  obtained  reasonable  terms.  Such  moderation 
toward  one  utterly  vanquished  is  always  suspi- 
cious :  indeed  it  is  not  difficult  to  infer  that  it  was 
an  utterance  from  Eome  that  saved  the  Jews. 
Hyrcanus  in  his  great  straits  had  turned  toward 
Rome,  and  Rome  did  not  wish  to  let  Antiochus 
grow  too  mighty  ;  he  had  to  renounce  the  antici- 
pated prize  of  his  victory,  but  Hyrcanus  became 
again  wholly  subject  to  the  Syrian  empire  ;  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  were  razed  and  Hyrcanus  had 
to  pay  tribute  and  furnish  troops. 

Thus  we  see  that  he  accompanied  Antiochus  in 
the  year  129  on  his  great  campaign  against  the 
Parthians,  and  Antiochus,  out  of  consideration 
for  his  Jewish  troops,  had  his  whole  army  rest 
for  two  days  because  Pentecost  and  a  Sabbath 
came  that  year  in  immediate  succession  and  the 
Jews  refused  to  march  on  these  two  days.  But 
Antiochus  fell  the  following  year,  128  B.  C.,  and 
from  that  moment  Hyrcanus  is  again  practically 
independent. 

The  last  sixty  years  of  Syrian  history  offer  a 
disgusting  picture  of  contemptible  tricks  and 
crimes,  of  quarrels  over  the  succession  and  of 
civil  wars  ;  these  degenerate  kings  were  no  longer 
a  real  danger  for  Judea.  Hyrcanus  now  became 
a  victorious  aggressor.  He  was  convinced  that 
the  mere  popular  militia  was  no  longer  sufficient ; 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        211 

therefore  he  kept  a  standing  army  of  mercenaries 
who,  obedient  to  his  every  nod,  were  an  ever 
ready  tool  in  his  hand.  Plainly  he  contemplated 
renewing  the  kingdom  of  David.  First  he  ad- 
vanced victoriously  upon  the  east  bank  of  the 
Jordan  and  in  the  ancient  land  of  Moab  ;  next  he 
captured  Shechem  and  destroyed  the  Samaritan 
sanctuary  upon  Mount  Gerizim  ;  then  he  turned 
southward  against  the  old  land  of  Edom,  subdued 
this  too,  and  compelled  the  Idumeans  to  receive 
circumcision  and  the  Jewish  law. 

Finally  he  advanced  upon  Samaria.  The  Sa- 
maritans appealed  for  aid  to  the  neighboring 
Seleucid,  Antiochus  IX.  Cyzicenus,  and  Judea 
was  laid  waste  by  Syrian  and  Egyptian  troops ; 
but  at  last  Hyrcanus  prevailed,  advanced  victo- 
riously as  far  as  Scythopolis,  and  took  Samaria 
after  a  long  and  hard  siege  ;  the  city  was  razed 
to  the  ground  and  the  neighboring  brooks  diverted 
across  the  site. 

This  is  all  that  we  know  of  the  thirty  years' 
reign  of  Hyrcanus,  and  we  cannot  refuse  our  ad- 
miration and  recognition  for  what  he  accom- 
plished :  after  the  days  of  Solomon  no  Israelite 
ruled  over  so  great  and  powerful  a  state  as  John 
Hyrcanus. 

But  what  of  the  high  priest  ?  is  the  involun- 
tary question.  The  answer  is  found  in  the  fact, 
reported  by  Josephus  and  the  Talmud  alike,  that 
under  him  the  conflict  with  the  Pharisees  arose. 
We  are  told  that  Hyrcanus  at  first  favored 


212   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

the  Pharisees  in  every  way,  and  sought  their 
favor.  On  one  occasion  when  he  had  them  all  at 
his  table  he  begged  them  to  remind  him  openly 
and  honestly  when  he  did  anything  contrary  to 
the  law.  Thereupon  all  the  Pharisees  were  full 
of  his  praise ;  only  one  enfant  terrible,  Eleazar, 
said  :  "  If  you  wish  to  know  the  truth,  be  content 
with  the  principality,  and  give  up  the  high-priest- 
hood." At  the  suggestion  of  a  Sadducee  named 
Jonathan,  Hyrcanus  asked  the  Pharisees  what 
punishment  Eleazar  deserved  for  that  utterance, 
and  the  Pharisees  replied:  " Forty  stripes  less 
one."  Hyrcanus,  who  had  expected  that  they 
would  condemn  him  to  death  for  blasphemy 
against  his  prince,  conceived  from  this  moment 
a  deep  distrust  of  the  Pharisees,  renounced  them 
utterly,  and  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the 
Sadducees. 

Even  though  the  anecdote  form  of  the  tradition 
betray  it  as  unhistorical,  the  fact  itself  is  beyond 
question,  and  results  with  absolute  necessity  from 
the  circumstances.  The  inner  incongruity  which 
the  extraordinary  personality  of  Simon  had  hidden 
was  revealed  even  under  his  son.  In  the  whole 
nature  of  Jewish  conditions  the  priesthood  was 
the  capital  matter.  But  for  Hyrcanus  the  tiara 
had  fallen  to  the  rank  of  a  mere  decoration  ;  he 
was  a  secular  prince  just  like  the  neighboring 
heathen  kings,  his  state  was  a  purely  secular 
realm  which  was  no  longer  able  to  pursue  spiritual 
aims,  no  longer  had  spiritual  concerns. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        213 

But  the  most  awkward  self-contradiction  lay  in 
the  point  which  Eleazar  had  ruthlessly  laid  bare. 
The  Maccabeans  were  the  champions  and  pioneers 
of  the  law :  zeal  for  the  law  of  Moses  had  im- 
pelled and  advanced  them  ;  even  their  political 
aims  and  objects  found  in  the  law  and  religion 
not  a  pretext,  but  their  real  foundation.  And 
now  they  themselves  were  violating  the  law :  the 
very  pinnacle  of  the  structure  which  was  founded 
on  the  law  was  a  violation  of  the  law.  Inasmuch 
as  the  Maccabees  were  not  Aaronites,  hence  not 
eligible  to  the  high-priesthood,  their  whole  occu- 
pancy of  the  office  was  illegal,  a  perpetual  violation 
and  mockery  of  the  law,  which  could  be  made 
endurable  only  by  extraordinary  ethical  merit  and 
personal  qualities.  As  soon  as  these  failed,  the 
dilemma  was  precipitated. 

The  Pharisees,  wholly  proof  against  all  political 
or  national  opportunism,  remained  true  to  the 
foundation  principles,  and  on  this  basis  antag- 
onized the  Maccabean  state  and  the  Maccabean 
princes,  and  so  these  in  sheer  self-defense  were 
constrained  to  suppress  the  spirit  which  had  cre- 
ated and  elevated  them.  Hyrcanus,  indeed,  was  a 
ruler  of  such  force  that  he  remained  master  of  the 
situation;  but  it  was  a  "  mene  tekel"  for  the 
future.  The  conflict  was  inevitably  to  become 
more  violent  and  burst  forth  more  tremendously 
just  in  proportion  as  the  Maccabean  rulers  devel- 
oped fewer  priestly  qualities,  and  the  more  baldly 


214        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

and  undisguisedly  the  secular  sway  became  their 
sole  aim  and  ambition. 

And  indeed  the  degeneration  of  the  family  that 
had  begun  so  gloriously  made  colossal  progress  ; 
dominion  had  demoralized  and  poisoned  them. 
While  the  contrast  between  Hyrcanus  and  his 
great  father  Simon  is  immense,  we  find  in  his  two 
sons  and  successors  personages  who  remind  us  of 
the  most  corrupt  popes  of  the  Kenaissance  period, 
of  SixtusIV.,  Innocent  VIII.,  and  Alexander  VI. 

Hyrcanus  died  in  the  year  105  B.  C.  By  will 
he  left  the  rule  to  his  widow  ;  the  oldest  of  his 
two  sons,  Judas  Aristobulus  (all  the  Maccabeans 
henceforth  bear  double  names,  one  Jewish  and  the 
other  Greek)  was  to  succeed  him  in  the  high- 
priesthood  only.  But  Aristobulus  let  his  mother 
die  of  hunger  in  prison,  and  was  the  first  to  adopt 
with  the  rule  also  the  royal  title,  calling  himself 
"King  of  the  Jews."  Three  of  his  brothers  he 
had  imprisoned ;  the  fourth  he  at  first  trusted 
blindly,  but  later,  as  his  distrust  was  aroused, 
had  him  murdered. 

In  the  face  of  these  reports  of  the  Jewish  his- 
torian Josephus,  it  strikes  us  as  very  strange  when 
a  Greek  historian  calls  Aristobulus  a  humane 
man  and  a  good  ruler.  But  the  puzzle  can  be 
explained.  Aristobulus  called  himself  officially 
" Phil-Hellene, "the  friend  of  the  Greeks,  thus 
boldly  denying  the  principles  and  the  traditions  of 
his  family  :  this  explains  the  partiality  of  the 
Greek  as  well  as  the  dislike  of  the  Jew. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

The  chief  event  of  his  short  reign  is  the  con- 
quest and  Judaizingof  Galilee,  whereby  he  rounded 
out  the  realm  of  the  Maccabees  and  reunited  under 
his  scepter  all  the  territories  formerly  belonging 
to  Israel.  But  after  one  short  year  he  died  of  a 
hemorrhage.  As  he  left  no  children,  his  widow, 
Alexandra-Salome,  merely  observed  the  law  in 
bestowing  her  hand  after  her  husband's  death 
upon  the  eldest  of  his  brothers,  Jonathan-Alex- 
ander or  Alexander  Jannaeus.  Thus  Alexander 
Janna3us,  the  third  son  of  Hyrcanus,  became  king 
and  high  priest,  104  B.  C.  One  brother  who  was 
said  to  be  striving  for  the  throne  was  immediately 
executed  ;  the  fifth,  who  was  quite  harmless,  was 
honored  as  a  prince  of  the  blood. 

Alexander  Jannseus  is  perhaps  the  most  unat- 
tractive and  worthless  personage  in  all  Jewish 
history.  Even  his  father,  Hyrcanus,  despised 
him,  and  there  was  nothing  great  or  good  about 
him  to  reconcile  us  to  him :  his  entire  reign  of 
twenty-six  years  was  one  succession  of  raids  and 
wars  in  which  he  did  not  even  manifest  strategic 
gifts,  and  of  outrages  which  rank  him  with  the 
most  reprobate  characters  in  history. 

He  first  made  a  campaign  of  conquest  to- 
ward the  sea-coast.  There  Ptolemais,  Gaza,  and 
Strato's  Tower,  ruled  over  by  a  certain  Zoilus, 
had  not  yet  been  incorporated  with  the  Jewish 
kingdom.  Alexander  first  attacked  Ptolemais. 
The  inhabitants  in  their  need  turned  for  aid  to 
the  Egyptian  prince,  Ptolemy  Lathyros,  who, 


2l6       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

expelled  from  Egypt  by  his  mother,  Cleopatra, 
had  established  a  dominion  in  Cyprus,  and  Alex- 
ander was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege.  But  soon 
he  made  friends  with  Ptolemy,  who  was  a  fellow- 
spirit,  and  promised  him  a  large  sum  if  he  would 
slay  Zoilus  and  turn  the  latter's  little  coast  realm 
over  to  him.  But  at  the  same  time  Alexander 
opened  negotiations  with  Cleopatra  whereby  she 
was  to  drive  his  new  bosom  friend  out  of  the 
country.  Ptolemy  learned  of  this  and  began  a 
fearful  persecution  of  unhappy  Judea.  Alexan- 
der was  utterly  defeated,  and  Ptolemy  gave  his 
troops  orders  to  butcher  and  cook  in  the  camp- 
kettles  the  captive  Jewish  women  and  children, 
in  order  that  the  Jews  might  believe  them  to  be 
cannibals  and  have  a  proper  fear  of  them.  But 
mother  Cleopatra  actually  did  come  upon  the 
scene  and  expelled  her  son  from  Palestine,  com- 
pelling him  to  withdraw  to  Cyprus.  But  then 
Cleopatra  wished  to  confiscate  the  former  Egyp- 
tian province,  and  could  be  dissuaded  from  this 
purpose  only  by  her  Jewish  general  Ananias. 
Scarcely  was  Alexander  fairly  relieved  from  this 
danger  when  he  undertook  new  conquests  toward 
the  north,  the  south,  the  east,  and  the  west,  the 
details  of  which  are  of  no  interest  to  us. 

Rather  is  our  gaze  attracted  to  the  deep  do- 
mestic difficulties.  That  this  man  who  passed 
his  whole  life  in  camp  among  harlots  and  row- 
dies was  high  priest  and  actually  officiated  as 
such  on  high  holidays  was  too  cruel  a  mockery  of 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        2I/ 

every  religious  sentiment  to  continue  any  length 
of  time  ;  the  contradiction  between  ideal  and  re- 
ality had  become  so  sharp  that  it  could  no  longer 
be  ignored.  While  officiating  at  the  feast  of 
tabernacles  the  king  even  went  so  far  as  to  ex- 
press a  blasphemous  ridicule  of  the  sacred  cere- 
mony, whereupon  the  patience  of  the  people  gave 
out  and  they  threw  at  the  contemptible  high  priest 
the  lemons  which  they  were  carrying  for  the  cele- 
bration ;  the  king  gave  command  to  his  troops 
to  use  their  swords,  and  six  thousand  people 
perished  in  the  temple  on  the  sacred  holiday.  Al- 
exander then  had  a  wooden  barrier  built  about 
the  altar  to  secure  him  in  the  future  against  such 
material  testimonials  of  the  sentiments  of  his 
subjects. 

The  heaped-up  tinder  needed  only  a  spark  to 
flash  out  into  vivid  flames.  Alexander  began  a 
quarrel  with  an  Arab  sheik  named  Obedas,  and 
in  the  course  of  time  fell  into  an  ambush  from 
which  he  barely  saved  his  life.  When  he  arrived 
in  Jerusalem  thus,  a  deserted  fugitive,  an  open 
rebellion  broke  out  and  a  six  years'  war  resulted, 
in  which  fifty  thousand  Jews  are  said  to  have 
perished. 

Now  Alexander  thought  the  time  had  come  to 
offer  the  hand  of  peace,  and  he  asked  what  was 
wanted  of  him,  whereupon  the  Pharisees  an- 
swered :  "Your  head."  At  the  same  time  they 
appealed  for  help  to  the  neighboring  Seleucid, 
Demetrius  III.  Eucairus.  Matters  came  to  an 


21 8   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

issue  at  Shechem.  On  the  one  side  stood  the  Phari- 
sees and  the  national  party  in  alliance  with  the 
Syrians,  on  the  other  side  the  Jewish  king  and 
high  priest  with  an  army  consisting  almost  ex- 
clusively of  Greek  mercenaries  ;  Alexander  was 
totally  defeated,  his  army  was  scattered,  and  he 
himself  wandered  about  in  the  mountains  a  hunt- 
ed fugitive. 

But  now  there  came  a  reaction.  The  Pharisees 
were  ready  to  accept  again  subjection  to  the 
Syrian  Empire.  Against  this,  however,  the  na- 
tional instinct  rebelled :  they  deserted  to  Alexan- 
der in  troops,  Demetrius  withdrew  from  the  coun- 
try, and  now  the  Pharisees  were  exposed  defense- 
less to  the  vengeance  of  the  tyrant.  They  threw 
themselves  into  the  fortress  of  Bethome,  which, 
however,  was  soon  captured.  Now  Alexander 
led  his  captives  in  triumph  to  Jerusalem,  where 
a  terrible  judgment  awaited  them.  Eight  hun- 
dred crosses  were  set  up  and  all  the  chiefs  of  the 
party  were  crucified  ;  before  their  eyes  as  they 
were  dying  Alexander's  executioners  butchered 
their  wives  and  children,  while  the  tyrant,  carous- 
ing and  feasting  in  the  midst  of  his  harlots 
and  dancers,  looked  on  at  the  horrible  spectacle. 
And  this  was  the  Jewish  high  priest ! 

Now  all  who  were  in  any  way  compromised 
left  the  country,  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  reign 
Alexander  had  domestic  peace. 

But  wars  did  not  cease  ;  however,  we  shall  pass 
over  their  shifting  issues.  When  Alexander  had 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.   219 

succeeded  in  conquering  the  whole  of  the  country 
east  of  the  Jordan  he  was  received  in  triumph 
by  the  people  at  Jerusalem.  The  regions  and 
cities  conquered  there  were  almost  wholly  Greek, 
and  this  is  the  only  point  in  which  Alexander 
manifested  his  Judaism  ;  he  compelled  the  con- 
quered Greek  cities  to  submit  to  circumcision  and 
the  Jewish  religion  ;  if  they  refused  to  submit  he 
destroyed  them,  as  we  have  evidence  in  a  large 
number  of  cases. 

But  soon  his  wild  and  dissolute  life  brought 
upon  him  a  severe  illness.  Even  then  he  did  not 
rest,  until  at  last  at  the  siege  of  Ragaba  his  fate 
overtook  him  ;  only  forty-eight  years  old,  he  died 
in  the  year  78  B.  C.,  and  is  said  on  his  dying  bed 
to  have  given  his  widow  the  advice  to  make  peace 
with  the  Pharisees  and  be  guided  by  them. 

If  this  tradition  is  correct  it  means  that  Alex- 
ander himself  perceived  that  the  work  of  his  life 
squandered  in  adventures  was  in  vain.  True,  at 
the  close  there  was  no  lack  of  outward  success  : 
the  kingdom  which  Alexander  left  at  his  death 
equalled  in  extent  the  kingdom  of  David,  but  it 
is  easy  to  understand  that  a  glory  acquired  by 
such  means  bore  within  itself  no  guaranty  of  per- 
manency. There  were  two  ways  of  maintaining 
it :  either  the  whole  must  be  placed  upon  an  eth- 
ical basis  and  thus  be  conquered  morally  after  the 
physical  conquest,  or  what  had  been  acquired  by 
violence  must  be  maintained  by  violence. 

At  first  they  tried  the  first  way.     Alexander 


22O        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

left  two  youthful  sons  :  the  elder,  Hyrcanus,  was 
an  indolent,  narrow,  and  incompetent  person,  the 
younger,  Aristobulus,  shrewd,  impetuous,  and  en- 
ergetic, the  image  of  his  father.  Alexander  had 
provided  in  his  will  that  Hyrcanus  should  suc- 
ceed him  only  in  the  high-priesthood,  while  the 
government  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  his  widow, 
and  this  pro  vision  was  obeyed  :  Alexandra-Salome 
was  in  uncontested  possession  of  the  royal  power 
for  nine  years  until  her  death  (78-69  B.  C.).  She 
is  said  to  have  been  a  sister  of  the  celebrated 
Simon  ben  Shetach,  the  head  at  the  time  of  the 
Pharisees,  and  there  is  no  question  that  she  was 
a  really  pious  woman  and  a  sincere  adherent  of 
the  Pharisaic  party. 

Thus  a  complete  change  of  system  came  about : 
she  had  only  the  name  of  ruler,  the  Pharisees  the 
actual  rule.  For  this  reason  this  queen  is  cele- 
brated and  praised  by  Jewish  tradition  more  than 
any  member  of  the  house  of  the  Maccabees  ;  her 
reign  is  said  to  have  been  outwardly  a  truly  Gold- 
en Age  for  Judea. 

But  now  the  Pharisees  began  a  reign  of  terror, 
and  held  such  bloody  reckoning  with  their  ancient 
enemies  that  finally  a  deputation  of  the  Saddu- 
cean  nobility,  led  by  the  queen's  own  son  Aristo- 
bulus went  to  her  to  remonstrate  and  declare  that 
things  could  not  continue  thus,  and  Alexandra 
actually  checked  the  vengeance  of  her  friends. 
Aristobulus  and  his  friends  asked  for  an  honora- 
ble exile  from  court  in  such  a  form  that  they  might 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        221 

serve  their  fatherland  in  the  army,  and  Alexandra 
turned  over  to  them  all  the  fortresses  of  the  coun- 
try save  three.  Moreover  Aristobulus  waged  in 
her  name  a  war  against  Damascus,  in  which, 
however,  he  won  no  laurels. 

The  great  danger  to  which  Judea  was  exposed 
from  Tigranes,  king  of  the  Armenians,  who  had 
conquered  the  shadowy  empire  of  the  Seleucidse, 
was  happily  averted.  After  nine  years  Alexandra 
was  taken  mortally  ill.  Now  Aristobulus  thought 
that  the  moment  for  action  had  come  :  he  with- 
drew secretly  from  Jerusalem,  made  a  league 
with  his  Sadducean  friends  and  prepared  to  secure 
by  force  the  succession  to  his  mother.  Before 
there  was  any  outbreak  Alexandra  died.  Hyr- 
canus  now  assumed  the  crown,  but  was  decisively 
beaten  by  Aristobulus  at  Jericho  and  compelled  to 
retreat  to  Jerusalem.  Here  he  had  the  wife  and 
children  of  his  brother  in  his  power,  and  thus  a 
compromise  was  finally  concluded  by  which  Hyr- 
canus  retained  all  his  revenues  but  formally 
resigned  the  high-priesthood  and  the  crown  to 
Aristobulus  ;  to  seal  the  compact  Alexandra,  the 
only  child  of  Hyrcanus,  was  betrothed  to  Alex- 
ander, the  eldest  son  of  Aristobulus. 

Hyrcanus  was  satisfied  with  the  settlement  and 
would  probably  have  led  a  life  of  peace  and  quiet 
until  his  end  if  fate  had  not  destined  him  to  be 
forever  the  plaything  of  others'  passions,  a  dummy 
for  the  intrigues  and  plans  of  others.  In  spite 
of  his  abdication  he  was  after  all  and  remained 


222        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

the  legitimate  heir  of  the  house  of  the  Maccabees, 
and  that  was  his  doom. 

The  Jewish  general  who  served  as  prefect  in 
Idumea  was  a  certain  Antipater,  whose  father, 
of  the  same  name,  had  enjoyed  the  especial  confi- 
dence of  Alexander  Jannseus.  This  man,  for 
whose  ambitious  plans  the  weakling  Hyrcanus 
was  better  adapted  than  the  energetic  Aristobulus, 
devoted  himself  to  a  systematic  instigation  of  the 
abdicated  ruler  and  to  making  sentiment  for  him 
among  the  people.  At  first  Hyrcanus  would  not 
hear  of  the  matter,  but  finally  Antipater  represen- 
ted so  persistently  that  his  life  was  in  danger  at 
the  hands  of  his  brother,  that  he  actually  permit- 
ted himself  to  be  persuaded  to  flee  from  Jerusalem 
to  the  Arab  sheik  Aretas,  who  proposed,  in  con- 
sideration of  a  promise  to  restore  the  Arabian 
territory  conquered  by  Alexander  Janna3us,  to 
reestablish  him  in  his  kingdom.  In  fact  a  war 
resulted  and  Aristobulus  was  utterly  defeated, 
being  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  where  Aretas  and  Hyrcanus  besieged 
him. 

In  this  connexion  Josephus  reports  two  charac- 
teristic details.  There  lived  at  that  time  an  es- 
pecially pious  man  named  Onias,  to  whose  prayers 
miraculous  efficacy  was  attributed.  He  was 
brought  before  the  temple  to  pronounce  a  curse 
upon  Aristobulus.  But  Onias  said  :  "  Almighty 
God  !  Those  beside  me  are  thy  people,  the  be- 
sieged are  thy  priests  ;  therefore  neither  hear  those 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       223 

nor  help  these."  But  this  conciliatory  mood 
was  not  in  accord  with  the  wishes  of  his  em- 
ployers, and  Onias  was  forthwith  stoned  to 
death. 

But  now  Pascha  came  on.  The  beleaguered 
priests  wished  most  urgently  to  celebrate  Pascha, 
and  begged  the  besiegers  humbly  to  admit  to  them 
the  necessary  animals  for  sacrifice.  For  each  sep- 
arate animal  the  immense  sum  of  one  thousand 
silver  shekels  was  demanded,  and  the  requisite 
sum  was  actually  let  down  over  the  walls.  The 
besiegers  pocketed  the  money  but  did  not  furnish 
the  animals. 

But  the  last  word  already  belonged  to  Rome, 
which  was  just  preparing  to  give  the  "sick  man" 
in  Syria  the  finishing  stroke.  Pompey  had  con- 
quered Mithradates  and  subdued  Tigranes  of  Ar- 
menia, and  was  now  making  a  clean  sweep  of 
Asia.  He  first  sent  a  legate,  Scaurus,  into  Syria 
to  look  after  things.  The  legate  went  also  into 
Judea.  Aristobulus,  who  well  knew  how  to  treat 
the  Romans  of  that  day,  promised  Scaurus  a 
large  sum  of  money  ;  Hyrcanus  could  not  fall 
behind  his  brother,  and  promised  a  like  sum.  But 
Scaurus  decided  in  favor  of  Aristobulus  and  com- 
manded the  Arabian  king  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Jerusalem  forthwith.  Aretas  ventured  no  op- 
position, and  on  his  retreat  Aristobulus  inflicted 
upon  him  a  severe  defeat. 

This  was  a  great  temporary  success  for  Aristo- 
bulus, but  the  final  decision  still  lay  in  the  hands 


224       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

of  Pompey.  Next  year  he  came  in  person.  Aris- 
tobulus  tried  to  win  his  favor  by  a  valuable  pres- 
ent ;  in  Damascus  the  two  brothers  appeared  be- 
fore his  tribunal,  and  at  the  same  time  a  Jewish 
delegation  which  urged  Pompey  to  abolish  the 
royal  dignity  altogether  and  to  restore  the  old 
sacerdotal  constitution  in  accordance  with  the 
law.  Pompey  was  dilatory  in  the  matter  and 
directed  all  parties  for  the  present  to  keep  the 
peace  ;  but  Aristobulus  had  no  confidence  in  the 
truce  and  prepared  for  resistance.  Now  Pompey 
marched  into  Judea  ;  when  the  Romans  appeared 
before  Jerusalem  Aristobulus  lost  courage  ;  he 
surrendered  to  Pompey  and  promised  also  to  turn 
the  city  over  to  him,  but  the  lieutenant-general, 
Gabinius,  who  was  to  make  the  entry,  found  the 
gates  closed.  Although  there  was  no  evidence 
of  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  Aristobulus, 
Pompey,  angered  by  this,  threw  him  into  chains 
and  prepared  to  take  the  city  by  force. 

In  Jerusalem  the  parties  were  not  harmonious. 
The  adherents  of  Hyrcanus  saw  in  the  Romans 
allies,  while  the  adherents  of  Aristobulus  were 
determined  to  resist  to  the  utmost ;  they  with- 
drew into  the  temple,  while  the  city  surrendered 
to  the  Romans.  Three  months  the  siege  of  the 
temple  lasted  ;  finally,  on  the  Day  of  Atonement 
in  the  year  63  B.  C.,  the  younger  Sulla,  a  son  of 
the  dictator,  led  the  scaling  of  the  wall,  and  then 
began  a  frightful  massacre  ;  the  priests,  who 
refused  to  desist-  from  their  ceremonies,  were  cut 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        225 

down  at  the  altar,  and  twelve  thousand  persons 
met  their  death  in  the  temple. 

Pompey  held  his  entry,  and,  despite  the  most 
urgent  protests,  entered  the  Holy  of  Holies,  though 
he  left  the  treasures  of  the  temple  untouched. 
The  leaders  of  the  war  party  were  executed,  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  razed,  and  all  lands  not  heredi- 
tary Jewish  possessions  were  sequestrated  and 
added  to  the  new  Roman  province  of  Syria  ;  over 
what  remained  was  placed  the  reappointed  high 
priest  Hyrcanus,  as  tributary  Roman  vassal  with- 
out the  royal  title. 

Aristohulus  and  his  four  children  were  taken 
to  Rome ;  the  eldest  son,  Alexander,  succeeded 
in  escaping  on  the  way  ;  the  other  three,  together 
with  their  father,  were  compelled  to  walk  in  front 
of  the  chariot  of  the  "imperator  "  as  a  spectacle 
for  the  Roman  populace  on  the  occasion  of  the 
great  triumph  of  Pompey  in  the  year  61. 

In  Judea  the  all-powerful  man  was  now  Anti- 
pater,  who  managed  to  make  himself  ever  more 
indispensable  to  Hyrcanus,  and  actually  exercised 
whatever  authority  the  Romans  thought  best  to 
leave  in  Jewish  hands.  The  sole  ambition  of  both 
these  men  was  to  make  themselves  popular  with 
their  new  lords  and  useful  to  them. 

We  have  little  positive  knowledge  of  the  whole 
succeeding  period.  In  the  year  57  B.  C.  Alexan- 
der, the  son  of  Aristobulus,who  had  escaped,  un- 
dertook a  revolutionary  incursion  into  Judea,  and 
actually  gained  some  successes  at  first ;  but  when 


226       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

the  Romans  took  the  matter  seriously  he  had  to 
surrender.  The  fortresses  were  razed,  but  Alex- 
ander himself  got  off  easily,  probably,  because  he 
treated  the  Roman  general  in  the  right  way,  that 
is,  with  clinking  arguments. 

In  order  to  repress  any  new  disposition  to  revolt 
Gabinius  divided  the  country  into  five  independent 
districts,  each  of  which  had  its  own  sanhedrin  like 
that  at  Jerusalem  ;  all  that  was  now  left  to 
Hyrcanus  was  the  high-priesthood.  But  in  the 
very  next  year,  56,  Aristobulus  himself  with  his 
younger  son  Antigonus,  succeeded  in  escaping 
from  Rome  and  raising  the  standard  of  revolt. 
He  was  received  with  rejoicings,  but  was  soon 
once  more  a  Roman  prisoner  ;  he  was  sent  to 
Rome  and  kept  now  in  close  confinement,  while 
his  children  were  liberated.  The  following  year 
young  Alexander  tried  his  fortune  again,  but 
accomplished  nothing,  despite  the  enthusiastic 
support  which  he  found. 

The  next  year,  54  B.  C.,  was  to  show  the  Jews 
what  they  might  expect  from  the  Romans.  The 
triumvir  Crassus  visited  Jerusalem  and  actually 
sacked  the  temple  :  he  is  said  to  have  carried  off 
partly  in  coin,  partly  in  other  valuables,  ten 
thousand  talents,  that  is,  about  nine  million  dol- 
lars. Now  there  broke  out  under  the  lead  of  a 
certain  Pithalaus  a  new  rebellion,  the  only  results 
of  which  were  that  the  ringleader  was  executed 
and  thirty  thousand  Jews  sold  into  slavery. 

With  the  year  49  B.  C.  begins  the  great  crisis 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        22/ 

in  ancient  history  marked  by  the  Eoman  civil 
wars.  The  fate  of  Judea  is  henceforth  dependent 
on  the  destinies  of  Rome,  and  is  the  mere  echo  of 
the  latter's  fluctuant  events.  Csesar,  in  order  to 
make  trouble  for  Pompey  in  the  Orient,  released 
the  captive  Aristobulus  and  was  about  to  send  him 
to  Judea  at  the  head  of  two  legions,  but  the  ad- 
herents of  Pompey  poisoned  him  ;  his  body  was 
embalmed  and  deposited  later  in  the  tomb  of  the 
Maccabees.  Now  his  son,  the  old  enemy  of  Rome, 
became  an  object  of  suspicion,  although  he  had 
made  no  move  as  yet ;  at  the  express  command 
of  Pompey  he  was  prosecuted  and  beheaded  at 
Antioch  on  account  of  his  former  crimes  against 
the  Roman  people. 

When  the  destiny  of  Rome  was  decided  at  Phar- 
salia,  Hyrcanus  and  Antipater  immediately  went 
over  to  the  victor,  and  were  able  to  render  him 
such  material  service  on  his  Egyptian  campaign 
that  the  full  favor  of  Csesar  rested  upon  them  in 
the  rearrangement  of  Syrian  affairs.  True  An- 
tigonus,  the  younger  son  of  Aristobulus,  appeared 
and  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  his  father 
and  his  elder  brother  had  lost  their  lives  in  the 
service  of  Csesar  ;  but  Csesar  was  too  practical  a 
politician  to  be  accessible  to  the  suggestions  of 
sentiment.  Antigonus  withdrew  with  empty 
hands. 

Csesar  abolished  the  division  of  the  country  in- 
troduced by  G-abinius,  confirmed  Hyrcanus  in  the 
high-priesthood,  and  appointed  him  ethnarch  of 


228        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

the  whole  country  ;  Antipater  received  the  title  of 
procurator,  as  well  as  Roman  citizenship  and  ex- 
emption from  taxation.  Caesar  also  permitted 
the  restoration  of  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  which 
had  been  destroyed  by  Pompey,  and  in  general 
showed  the  Jews  especial  favor  in  order  to  attach 
to  himself  and  his  cause  this  race  which  was  al- 
ready an  international  power.  Thus  it  is  express- 
ly reported  that  the  death  of  Caesar  was  mourned 
by  no  other-  people  so  sincerely  as  by  the  Jews. 

Who  the  actual  ruler  was  in  Judea  was  soon 
to  appear  through  a  striking  instance.  Antipater 
had  appointed  his  two  sons,  Phasael  and  Herod, 
as  generals.  In  this  capacity  Herod  had  defeated 
and  captured  in  Galilee,  Hezekiah,  a  so-called  rob- 
ber chief,  that  is,  a  volunteer  soldier  hostile  to 
Rome,  and  had  executed  the  whole  band  in  short 
order.  The  sanhedrin  saw  in  this  an  infringe- 
ment of  its  rights.  Herod  was  summoned  to 
Jerusalem.  He  came,  indeed,  but  at  the  head  of 
a  strong  military  force,  and  appeared  defiantly 
before  the  sanhedrin.  For  Hyrcanus,  who  pre- 
sided over  the  sanhedrin,  had  received  from  Sextus 
Caesar,  the  legate  of  Syria,  an  explicit  command 
to  acquit  Herod.  But  the  Pharisee  Shammai, 
the  most  distinguished  member  of  the  sanhedrin, 
was  not  to  be  intimidated  ;  he  declared  openly 
that  Herod  deserved  death,  and  that  the  sanhe- 
drin, if  it  acquitted  him,  would  incur  a  heavy  guilt 
which  Herod  himself  would  some  day  severely 
punish.  After  this  speech,  which  made  a  deep 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        229 

impression  upon  the  sanhedrin,  Hyrcanus  ad 
journed  the  session  and  advised  Herod  to  with- 
draw secretly  from  Jerusalem.  Herod  did  so,  but 
soon  returned  with  a  still  greater  force,  and  could 
be  dissuaded  from  an  attack  upon  Jerusalem  only 
with  the  greatest  difficulty. 

At  this  point  the  death  of  Ca3sar  changed  the 
whole  situation  instantly.  One  of  the  murderers 
of  Caesar,  Cassius,  went  to  Asia,  and  soon  all  the 
Roman  troops  there  swore  allegiance  to  him. 
Then  Antipater  and  Herod  made  haste  to  show 
the  new  master  their  devotion,  and  were  especially 
steadfast  in  satisfying  the  financial  wants  of  the 
ever  impecunious  Cassius.  Suddenly  Antipater 
died  of  poison.  A  certain  Malichus  had  been  en- 
deavoring to  acquire  the  same  influence  over 
Hyrcanus  that  Antipater  exercised,  and  so  had 
the  latter  poisoned  ;  but  he  was  not  to  reap  the 
reward  of  his  deed,  for  soon  assassins  hired  by 
Herod  put  an  end  to  him. 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  confusion  there 
were  again  new  disturbances  in  Judea.  In  Jeru- 
salem a  certain  Helix  rebelled  against  Phasael, 
and  in  the  north  Antigonus,  the  youngest  surviv- 
ing son  of  Aristobulus,  made  an  incursion  into 
Galilee  ;  both  uprisings  were  suppressed  only  with 
difficulty.  Then  came  the  day  of  Philippi :  the 
glory  of  Cassius  was  past  and  Antony  was  ruler 
of  Asia.  The  position  of  Herod,  who  owed  every- 
thing to  Ca3sar,  was  critical,  and  made  worse  by 
the  fact  that  a  delegation  of  Jews  was  marching 


230       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

to  meet  Antony,  bearing  most  serious  charges 
against  Herod  and  Phasael.  But  Antony  had 
known  Herod  personally  in  earlier  days,  and  in 
them  were  two  congenial  souls  who  could  not  fail 
to  please  each  other.  Antony  dismissed  the 
accusers  and  appointed  Herod  and  Phasael  as 
tetrarchs,  thereby  merely  legalizing  the  actual 
situation ;  Hyrcanus  retired  altogether  into  his 
high-priesthood. 

But  soon  a  remarkable  chain  of  circumstances 
was  to  call  once  more  a  Maccabee  to  the  throne 
of  Judea.  In  the  year  40  occurred  that  fearful 
invasion  of  the  Parthians  which  brought  all  Asia 
into  their  hands.  Antigonus  now  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  Parthians  and  promised 
them  a  thousand  talents  of  gold  and  five  hundred 
of  the  fairest  Jewish  maidens  if  they  would  re- 
store him  to  the  kingdom  of  his  father,  Aristo- 
bulus.  Against  these  hosts  all  resistance  was  in 
vain.  Herod  found  safety  in  a  daring  flight, 
Phasael  and  Hyrcanus  fell  into  the  power  of  the 
Parthians.  Phasael  dashed  out  his  brains  in 
prison  ;  Hyrcanus,  after  his  ears  had  been  cut  off 
at  the  command  of  his  nephew  in  order  to  perma- 
nently disqualify  him  for  the  high-priesthood, 
was  dragged  away  into  captivity  by  the  Par- 
thians. 

Thus  Antigonus  was  king  and  high  priest  by 
the  grace  of  the  Parthians,  and  maintained  him- 
self in  this  position  for  three  years,  from  40  to  37 
B.  C.  His  Hebrew  name  was  Mattathias,  so  that 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        231 

this  last  degenerate  descendant  bore  the  same 
name  as  the  glorious  founder  of  the  family.  The 
history  of  his  reign  is  really  only  the  history  of 
its  loss. 

Herod  had  succeeded  in  escaping  to  his  friend 
Antony  in  Eome.  Antony  managed  also  to  in- 
terest Octavius  in  him,  and  thus  there  was  issued 
in  the  year  39  B.  C.  a  decree  of  the  senate  appoint- 
ing Herod  king  of  Judea.  True,  he  had  first  to 
conquer  his  kingdom.  He  immediately  went 
thither,  and  would  probably  have  taken  Jerusalem 
directly  had  not  the  Roman  generals,  who  by 
Antony's  direction  were  to  support  him,  been 
bribed  by  Antigonus  to  hinder  him  in  every  way. 
Not  even  in  the  year  38  B.  C.  had  he  attained 
entire  success.  But  now  Antony  himself  went 
to  Asia  and  sent  his  legate,  Sosius,  with  explicit 
commands  to  Judea,  where  meantime  a  great 
massacre  had  taken  place  among  the  adherents 
of  Herod.  Aided  by  Sosius,  Herod  overcame  all 
opposition,  and  only  the  approach  of  winter  gave 
Antigonus  a  brief  respite. 

In  the  spring  of  37  B.  C.  the  siege  of  Jerusalem 
was  undertaken  with  all  vigor.  While  it  was 
going  on  Herod  married  Mariamne,  the  grand 
child  of  both  Hyrcanus  and  Aristobulus,  thus 
uniting  in  himself  the  claims  of  both  brothers 
and  their  families.  After  a  siege  of  forty  days 
the  first  wall  was  taken,  after  fifteen  days  more 
the  second  ;  but  Antigonus  still  maintained  him- 
self in  the  temple.  Finally  in  the  third  month, 


232        HISTORY    OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

on  a  Sabbath,  the  temple  was  stormed  and  a 
fearful  slaughter  began,  for  the  Eomans,  embit- 
tered by  the  long  resistance,  spared  neither  age 
nor  sex. 

Thus  King  Herod  entered  his  capital.  In 
womanish  distress  Antigonus  threw  himself  at 
the  feet  of  the  Eoman  legate,  begging  for  his 
life;  Sosius  exclaimed  in  scorn:  " Arise,  Anti- 
gona,"  using  the  feminine  form  of  the  name,  and 
had  him  put  into  chains.  At  Antioch  his  head 
fell  under  the  ax  of  the  Eoman  lictor — it  was  the 
first  captive  ruling  monarch  whom  the  Eomans 
had  ever  executed  like  a  common  criminal. 

Herod's  first  care  was  to  get  rid  of  his  friends 
and  assistants  without  trouble  ;  he  actually  bribed 
Sosius  and  the  Eoman  troops,  at  great  personal 
sacrifice,  to  abstain  from  the  plundering  of  Jeru- 
salem and  the  entering  and  desecration  of  the 
temple,  and  so  they  marched  away  leaving  Herod 
behind  in  his  kingdom. 

First  Herod  made  a  clean  sweep  of  his  enemies 
and  opponents,  and  sought  to  keep  the  people, 
who  feared  and  hated  him,  in  terror  and  sub- 
jection. In  order  to  show  that  he  did  not  shrink 
from  the  memories  of  the  Maccabees,  he  recalled 
to  Jerusalem  old  Hyrcanus,  who  was  honored  as 
a  prince  of  the  Jews  in  Babylon,  and  at  the  same 
time  selected  a  Jew  of  the  race  of  the  high  priests, 
Ananiel  by  name,  then  living  in  Babylon,  in  order 
that  the  high  priesthood  should  be  conferred 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        233 

upon  him.*  But  Herod's  mother-in-law,  Alex- 
andra, demanded  this  office  for  her  son  Aris- 
tobulus,  although  he  was  as  yet  very  young. 
She  managed  to  work  every  lever,  especially  with 
the  Egyptian  Cleopatra,  who  completely  domi- 
nated the  all-powerful  Antony,  and  so  Herod  was 
obliged  to  remove  Ananiel  and  appointed  in  his 
place  as  high  priest  his  own  seventeen-year-old 
brother-in-law,  Aristobulus.  This  was  in  the 
year  35,  B.  C. 

But  when  Aristobulus,  on  the  occasion  of  his 
first  appearance  as  high  priest,  at  the  feast  of 
tabernacles,  was  received  by  the  people  with 
demonstrative  rejoicing,  Herod  had  him  stifled  in 
his  bath.  True,  Antony  called  him  to  account 
for  this  ;  but  Herod  knew  how  to  manage  Antony, 
and  again  they  parted  the  best  of  friends.  It 
was  a  less  agreeable  matter  when  Antony  made 
a  present  to  Cleopatra  of  the  best  part  of  Herod's 
land,  and  Herod  was  obliged  to  rent  it  of  her  at 
a  high  rate.  Soon  after  this  Cleopatra  paid  a  visit 
to  Herod  in  Jerusalem,  and  planned  to  snare  him 
in  her  net  in  order  thus  through  the  resulting 
jealousy  of  Antony  to  destroy  him ;  but  Herod 
saw  through  the  fine  plan  and  acted  toward  his 
guest  like  a  perfect  cavalier  indeed,  but  with  such 
reserve  and  propriety  as  to  afford  not  the  least 
ground  for  suspicion. 

In  the  year  32  B.  C.  the  war  between  Antony 

*  Hyrcanus  had  been  disqualified  from  filling  the  office  by 
the  mutilation  described  p.  230. — Trans. 


234       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

and  Octavius  broke  out.  Fortune  spared  Herod 
from  participation,  for  he  was  compelled  by  tbe 
command  of  Antony  to  wage  a  war  in  tbe  interest 
of  Cleopatra  against  the  Arabian  king  Malchus, 
and  when  this  war  was  over  it  was  also  all  over 
with  Antony  :  the  battle  of  Actium  was  fought 
on  the  2nd  of  September,  31  B.  C.,  and  Antony 
was  a  dead  man. 

Now  the  game  was  to  win  the  new  ruler,  and 
in  this  again  Herod  showed  his  whole  cunning 
and  knowledge  of  men :  he  visited  Augustus  in 
person  at  Rhodes,  having  first,  to  meet  contin- 
gencies, put  old  Hyrcanus  out  of  the  way.  And 
thus  the  last  Maccabee  was  gone,  and  the  family 
that  had  begun  so  gloriously  less  than  a  hundred 
and  forty  years  before  had  perished  most  ignobly 
at  least  as  much  by  the  fault  of  its  younger  and 
unworthy  members  as  by  what  we  must  admit 
was  a  harsh  destiny.  Herod  managed  to  win 
over  Augustus  entirely,  and  returned  to  Jerusa- 
lem confirmed  as  king  ;  he  held  the  throne  with- 
out opposition  until  his  death  in  the  year  4  before 
the  birth  of  Christ. 

The  history  of  the  reign  of  Herod  is  a  history 
of  palace  details.  Events  of  universal  importance 
did  not  occur,  and  Herod  followed  his  single  prin- 
ciple—  the  favor  and  friendship  of  the  Eomans 
at  any  cost — so  successfully  and  skilfully  that 
not  even  the  slightest  cloud  threatened  him.  But 
the  history  of  his  court  is  such  a  bottomless  sea 
of  filth  and  blood  that  I  spare  myself  and  the 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       235 

reader  the  narration  of  things  at  which  the  guard- 
ian genius  of  humanity  can  only  veil  his  face. 
A  wife  who  was  passionately  loved,  his  mother- 
in-law  and  three  sons  fell  victims  to  his  suspicion 
and  tyranny,  and  in  the  country  as  well  every 
hint  or  motion  of  opposition  was  suppressed  with 
barbarous  severity. 

Herod  was  certainly  an  extraordinary  man, 
decidedly  the  first  really  important  personage  in 
Jewish  history  since  Simon.  He  was  a  born  ruler, 
and  his  rule  might  and  indeed  must  have  been  a 
blessing  for  his  land  and  people  if  there  had  not 
been  a  lack  of  mutual  confidence  and  love.  Even 
in  the  best  acts  and  undertakings  of  the  hated 
monarch  the  Jews  saw  only  evil  intentions  and 
selfish  motives,  and  they  hampered  him  in  every 
possible  way.  He  was  simply  the  Idumean  semi- 
Jew,  the  friend  of  the  Eomans,  whose  heart  was 
on  the  side  of  the  heathen  anyway,  and  who 
would  gladly  have  made  them  all  heathen. 
Herod  in  turn  repaid  this  hatred  with  the  fiercest 
hostility  and  the  most  implacable  vengeance  ;  he 
knew  that  his  own  subjects  were  his  worst  ene- 
mies, and  he  acted  accordingly. 

It  would  be  folly  to  deny  that  the  outward  con- 
dition of  Judea  under  his  rule  was  fortunate  :  he 
secured  peace  within  and  without,  commerce 
flourished,  prosperity  increased  visibly,  and  the 
great  popularity  which  the  king  enjoyed  every- 
where else  cast  also  a  ray  upon  the  people  he 
ruled,  and  Herod  used  his  very  considerable  influ- 


236        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

ence  everywhere  for  their  benefit :  wherever  a 
wrong  was  done  the  Jews,  he  interfered  in  their 
behalf  and  protected  them  in  their  rights  and 
privileges. 

So  there  would  have  been  every  outward  reason 
for  content ;  Judea  under  the  government  of 
Herod  enjoyed  in  abundance  what  in  the  common 
view  constitutes  the  happiness  of  nations — but  he 
received  no  thanks  for  this  because  the  people 
could  not  believe  that  it  came  from  pure  motives, 
and  because  they  did  not  wish  to  accept,  or  at 
least  to  acknowledge,  benefits  from  the  hand  of 
the  friend  of  the  heathen.  Even  repeated  remis- 
sion of  taxes  and  extravagant  aid  in  cases  of  pub- 
lic misfortune  could  bring  forth  no  love  where 
none  had  been  sown ;  not  even  by  the  splendid 
restoration  of  the  temple  could  he  win  the  hearts 
of  the  Jewish  people,  because  they  were  convinced 
that  he  would  much  rather  have  built  in  Jerusa- 
lem a  heathen  temple. 

Af tertimes  called  Herod  < '  the  Great. "  He  had 
the  making  of  a  great  man  ;  he  was  of  the  wood 
from  which  great  men  are  carved,  and  in  more 
favorable  circumstances  he  would  have  been  one 
perhaps  ;  but  as  it  was  he  wore  out  his  strength 
and  his  life  upon  a  hopeless  task  and  thus  brought 
upon  his  people  and  himself  indescribable  misery. 

The  reign  of  Herod  is  perhaps  the  most  con- 
vincing evidence  that  there  are  powers  which  are 
stronger  than  crown  and  sword,  and  that  violence 
avails  nothing  against  the  spirit.  When  Herod 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        237 

died  in  the  spring  of  the  year  4  before  the  birth 
of  Christ,  unlamented  by  his  own,  cursed  by  his 
people,  a  far-seeing  eye  could  already  perceive 
unmistakable  signs  of  the  end. 

At  home  a  mass  of  hatred  and  hostility  had  ac- 
cumulated which  only  the  iron  hand  of  the  old 
king  had  been  able  to  restrain,  and  the  real  am- 
bition of  his  life,  to  make  the  Roman  rule  tolera- 
ble to  the  Jews  and  to  absorb  them  into  the  Greco- 
Roman  world,  had  been  an  utter  failure  ;  contempt 
and  loathing  of  everything  Roman  and  Greek  had 
become  deeper  seated  than  ever — when  these  two 
opposites  clashed,  the  result  could  not  fail  to  be 
a  life  and  death  struggle.  Could  it  have  been 
avoided  ?  To  do  so  would  in  any  case  have  re- 
quired on  the  part  of  the  Romans  more  than  hu- 
man wisdom  and  moderation,  and  on  the  part  of 
the  Jews  more  than  angelic  patience  and  self- 
denial.  But  neither  side  wished  to  avoid  it.  We 
shall  see  how  arbitrary  injustice  and  wicked  arro- 
gance made  the  already  difficult  situation  abso- 
lutely intolerable,  so  that  at  last  the  hopelessly 
tangled  knot  had  to  be  cut  by  the  sword. 


238        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  HOUSE  OF  HEROD — JUDEA  AS  A  ROMAN 
PROVINCE. 

IT  was  a  moment  of  intense  interest  at  which 
we  closed  our  last  chapter.  Everywhere 
there  was  ferment  and  repressed  excitement  ;  the 
peace  established  hy  the  iron  hand  of  Herod  was 
but  the  peace  of  the  churchyard.  Even  in  the  last 
days  of  the  tyrant  the  flames  began  to  shoot  up. 
While  he  was  still  wrestling  with  death  upon  his 
bed  of  suffering  at  Jericho  the  report  was  spread 
that  he  was  dead,  and  straightway  open  rebellion 
broke  forth  against  him  and  his  system. 

Over  the  chief  entrance  to  the  temple  Herod 
had  had  placed  a  golden  eagle  as  a  sign  of  the 
Roman  sovereignty.  Some  forty  young  pupils  of 
the  highly  respected  Pharisees  Judas  and  Mat- 
thias climbed  up  and  with  axes  cut  the  golden 
eagle  to  pieces.  The  perpetrators  were  at  once 
seized  by  the  guard  and,  together  with  their  two 
teachers,  dragged  to  Jericho,  where  Herod  con- 
demned them  and  had  them  all  burned  alive. 
Soon  after  this,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  4  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Christ,  he  himself  died. 


HISTORY   OF  THE  PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       239 

I  assume  that  my  esteemed  readers  are  already 
aware  of  the  fact  that  Abbot  Dionysius  Exiguus, 
who  in  the  sixth  century  calculated  the  Christian 
era  according  to  which  we  still  universally  reckon 
time,  erred  in  his  establishment  of  the  year  of 
Christ's  birth,  placing  it  several  years,  probably 
five,  if  not  seven,  too  late.  It  is  positively  certain 
that  Herod  died  in  the  year  4  before  our  era ;  if, 
therefore,  Jesus  was  born  during  his  reign — and 
there  is  no  reason  for  doubting  this  tradition — 
the  conclusion  is  unavoidable  that  the  date  com- 
monly assigned  for  the  birth  of  Christ  is  wrong. 
The  place  of  Jesus'  birth  is  just  as  much  a  matter 
of  uncertainty  as  the  time  ;  and  so  is  the  year 
of  his  death, — in  this  latter  point  reports  and 
estimates  vary  a  matter  of  seven  years,  from  29 
to  36  A.D. 

It  is  downright  providential  that  we  know  so 
little  from  the  historical  and  biographical  point 
of  view  concerning  this  greatest  life  that  was 
ever  lived  on  earth.  Thus  every  possibility  is  to 
be  precluded  of  our  falling  into  the  delusion  that 
we  know  him  in  knowing  the  date  of  his  birth 
and  of  his  death  and  the  outward  circumstances 
of  his  life  ;  he  is  to  stand  before  us  simply  in  his 
work. 

The  life  and  activity  of  Jesus  fell  into  the 
period  of  Jewish  history  which  is  to  occupy  our 
attention  in  this  chapter,  and  his  activity  was 
possible  only  on  the  soil  of  Israel  and  among  the 
Jewish  people ;  but  yet  a  history  of  the  people  of 


240       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Israel  is  not  the  place  in  which  to  speak  of  him. 
He  swept  across  the  hopelessly  darkened  sky  of 
Israel  like  a  meteor,  flashing  and  vanishing ;  he 
had  no  effect  upon  the  history  of  the  Jewish 
people,  and  the  fact  that  he  did  not  do  this,  that 
he  deliberately  refused  to  do  so,  became,  humanly 
speaking,  his  doom.  His  people  and  his  time 
demanded  a  Messiah  with  the  sword  of  Gideon, 
one  who  would  break  the  dominion  of  Eome 
and  re-establish  the  ardently  longed-for  king- 
dom of  Israel.  Jesus  regarded  it  as  his  mission 
to  break  the  power  of  sin  and  to  establish  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  which  is  not  accomplished  with 
the  sword  of  outward  power  but  through  the  in- 
ward regeneration  of  the  spirit.  In  the  invinci- 
ble faith  that  this  Kingdom  of  God  would  and 
must  come,  Jesus  went  to  his  death.  But  on  his 
way  to  death  he  had  for  his  people  only  this  af- 
fecting farewell  :  "  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep 
not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves  and  for  your 
children  "  (Luke  xxiii.  28). 

Herod  had  a  numerous  family — nine  wives  and 
nine  sons  and  five  daughters.  He  had  himself 
caused  his  three  oldest  sons  to  be  executed,  and 
had  frequently  altered  his  will ;  the  last  form  of 
it,  composed  shortly  before  his  death,  divided  the 
kingdom  among  three  of  the  surviving  sons. 
Archelaus  was  to  receive  the  royal  title  together 
with  Judea,  Samaria,  and  Idumea  ;  Herod  An- 
tipas,  Galilee  and  Perea  ;  and  Philip  the  northern 
districts,  the  two  latter  with  the  title  of  tetrarch. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        241 

The  confirmation  of  the  will  was  of  course  de- 
pendent on  Augustus,  and  Herod  by  testamentary 
provision  had  commissioned  Archelaus  and  An- 
tipas  to  carry  his  seal-ring  and  the  sealed  docu- 
ments to  Rome  immediately  after  his  death.  But 
before  attending  to  this  Archelaus  was  saluted 
as  king  by  the  troops  and  the  people  and  cele- 
brated his  father's  obsequies  with  a  pompous, 
seven  days'  ceremony.  Then  he  addressed  the 
people  and  promised  to  be  a  good  ruler,  and 
especially  to  be  more  clement  than  his  father. 
They  immediately  took  him  at  his  word,  and  de- 
manded that  he  remove  the  unworthy  high  priest 
last  appointed  by  his  father  and  put  a  worthier 
one  in  his  place,  and  likewise  that  he  should  pun- 
ish those  councillors  of  his  father  who  had  con- 
demned the  two  Pharisees  and  their  pupils  to  such 
a  terrible  death  for  destroying  the  golden  eagle 
over  the  temple  gate.  Archelaus  wanted  to  avoid 
a  conflict  before  his  journey  to  Rome,  and  sent 
delegates  to  the  people  to  pacify  them,  but  these 
delegates  were  received  with  showers  of  stones 
and  sent  back  with  scoffs  and  jeers. 

They  were  in  the  midst  of  preparations  for 
Pascha,  and  for  this  reason  there  was  an  immense 
concourse  in  Jerusalem  ;  the  dissatisfied  multi- 
tude took  possession  of  the  temple  in  order  to 
compel  compliance  with  their  demands.  Now 
Archelaus  sent  a  tribune  with  a  cohort  to  the 
temple  to  establish  order,  but  almost  the  entire 
cohort  was  stoned  to  death  by  the  excited  popu- 


242        HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

lace  ;  the  tribune  barely  saved  his  life  with  a 
few  of  his  followers.  Now  of  course  the  whole 
available  military  force  had  to  be  called  out  to 
storm  and  purge  the  temple.  Three  thousand 
corpses  covered  the  floor  of  the  sanctuary.  All 
pilgrims  from  without  the  city  received  per- 
emptory orders  to  return  home  straightway. 
Order  being  thus  restored,  Archelaus  started 
upon  his  journey  to  Kome.  In  Csesarea  he  met  a 
Koman  official,  Sabinus,  who  purposed  to  take 
present  charge  of  Herod's  heritage.  Archelaus 
tried  to  restrain  him,  but  of  course  Sabinus  pur- 
sued his  way,  and  to  make  him  secure  Quintilius 
Varus,  at  that  time  legate  in  Syria,  the  same 
who  attained  such  a  melancholy  renown  by  his 
defeat  in  our  Teutoburg  forest,  gave  him  one  of 
his  three  legions. 

Sabinus  treated  the  country  after  the  usual 
fashion  of  Eoman  provincial  officials  ;  this  aroused 
such  bitterness  that  an  unusually  large  number 
of  pilgrims  came  to  Jerusalem  for  the  celebration 
of  Pentecost  and  actuall}r  besieged  Sabinus.  The 
Jews  having  taken  possession  of  the  porches  of 
the  temple  and  thrown  thence  weapons  and  stones 
upon  the  heads  of  the  Romans,  Sabinus  set  fire  to 
the  porches  so  that  the  Jews  perished  miserably 
in  the  flames.  The  temple  was  stormed  and  of 
course  plundered ;  Sabinus  is  said  to  have  stolen 
for  his  own  treasury  four  hundred  talents,  that 
is  considerably  over  $500,000. 

Now  open  rebellion  broke  forth  throughout  the 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        243 

country.  Everywhere  there  gathered  bands  which 
slaughtered  all  the  Romans  and  all  the  adherents 
of  Herod  whom  they  could  capture.  Sabinus 
sent  to  Varus  for  help,  and  the  latter  entered  the 
rebellious  country  with  all  the  troops  at  his  dis- 
posal. How  he  conducted  himself  can  be  im- 
agined. Plundered  and  burned  cities  whose 
inhabitants  had  been  slaughtered  or  sold  into 
slavery  marked  the  route  of  the  victorious  Roman 
army.  Varus  entered  Jerusalem  and  there  had 
two  thousand  of  the  ringleaders  crucified  at  one 
time  ;  after  these  valiant  deeds  he  left  the  pacified 
country  and  returned  to  Antioch. 

Meanwhile  the  two  brothers  had  presented  a 
very  discreditable  scene  in  Rome.  Each  sought 
to  exclude  the  other  and  to  get  possession  of  as 
great  a  share  as  possible  of  his  father's  heritage, 
while  at  the  same  time  there  appeared  a  dele- 
gation of  the  Jewish  people  praying  for  the  removal 
of  the  whole  Herodian  family  in  order  that  they 
might  live  according  to  their  own  laws  under  im- 
mediate Roman  overlordship.  Now  Augustus 
was  obliged  to  come  to  a  decision.  He  confirmed 
the  last  testament  of  Herod  in  its  main  features, 
merely  denying  Archelaus  the  royal  title  for  the 
time  being  and  requiring  him  to  be  satisfied  with 
that  of  ethnarch. 

The  destinies  of  the  three  brothers  developed 
in  great  divergence.  The  only  attractive  figure 
in  the  whole  Herodian  family,  a  genuine  white 
raven,  is  Philip.  And  it  is  to  be  remembered  in 


244        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

this  connection  that  the  portions  of  the  country 
over  which  he  ruled  were  almost  entirely  heathen 
and  the  Jews  in  a  great  minority,  a  fact  which 
made  government  much  easier.  According  to 
Josephus  he  carried  on  a  search  for  the  sources 
of  the  Jordan  which  lie  in  his  territory.  He 
rebuilt  Paneas  and  Bethsaida  ;  thenceforth  the 
former  was  called  Csesarea  Philippi,  the  latter 
Julias.  Josephus  gives  the  following  sketch  of 
him:  "He  was  well-disposed  and  kind  toward 
his  subjects,  without  ambition,  and  never  left 
his  country  his  whole  life  long.  He  always  went 
about  with  a  small  retinue  and  had  a  tribunal-seat 
carried  about  after  him  in  order  to  be  able  to 
pass  forthwith  upon  any  petition  which  might  be 
presented  by  whoever  met  him."  He  died  in  the 
year  33  A.  D.,  after  a  reign  of  thirty-seven  years, 
leaving  no  children  ;  thereupon  Tiberius  seques- 
tered his  country  and  added  it  to  the  province  of 
Syria. 

The  second  son,  Herod  Antipas,  is  the  sovereign 
of  Jesus,  and  is  characterized  by  him  as  a  fox  ; 
it  was  he  that  had  John  the  Baptist  executed. 
We  know  of  him  only  by  his  architectural  con- 
structions, his  founding  of  cities,  and  the  serious 
scandal  in  his  domestic  relations  which  cost  the 
Baptist  his  life.  The  most  important  city  founded 
by  him  is  Tiberias,  on  the  west  shore  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  named  in  honor  of  the  Emperor 
Tiberius.  In  laying  the  foundations  it  turned 
out  that  there  had  been  on  the  spot  an  ancient 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       245 

burial-place  with  quantities  of  skeletons.  This 
made  the  spot  unclean,  and  pious  Jews  refused 
to  dwell  there,  so  that  Antipas  was  finally  con- 
strained to  settle  the  city  with  the  most  question- 
able elements.  It  had  a  wholly  heathen  charac- 
ter, and  at  the  outbreak  of  war  the  wrath  of 
the  people  was  directed  first  of  all  against  these 
edifices  and  they  were  destroyed.  The  final  com- 
plications and  the  close  of  his  forty-three  years' 
reign,  which  all  arose  from  his  sinful  union  with 
his  brother's  wife,  Herod  ias,  will  receive  our  at- 
tention hereafter  in  another  connection. 

Of  briefest  endurance  was  the  reign  of  Arche- 
laus,  who  exercised  his  authority  almost  exclu- 
sively in  the  appointment  and  removal  of  high 
priests,  incidentally  erecting  some  edifices.  He 
too  gave  deep  offense  by  his  marriage  with  Gla- 
phyra,  the  widow  of  his  half-brother  Alexander. 
Besides  this  a  false  Alexander  soon  made  his  ap- 
pearance. Alexander,  the  eldest  son  of  Herod  and 
Mariamne  the  Maccabee,  would  have  been  the 
regular  heir  to  the  throne.  So  a  young  man  with 
a  striking  resemblance  to  him  claimed  to  be  Alex- 
ander, reporting  that  the  executioner,  moved  by 
pity,  had  failed  to  carry  out  the  command  of 
Herod,  but  had  substituted  a  corpse  that  looked 
like  him.  This  youth  was  received  everywhere 
with  shouts  of  rejoicing  by  the  Jews,  and  even 
had  the  impudence  to  go  to  Rome  in  order  to 
demand  his  inheritance  at  the  hands  of  Augustus  ; 
but  Augustus,  who  had  been  personally  ac- 


246       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

quainted  with  the  real  Alexander,  saw  through 
the  fraud  directly  and  sent  the  adventurer  to 
the  galleys. 

After  Archelaus  had  ruled  for  nine  years  in 
barbarity  and  tyranny,  as  Josephus  puts  it,  his 
subjects  made  charges  against  him  to  Augustus, 
who  immediately  summoned  him  to  Rome.  The 
charges  were  so  serious  that  Augustus  deposed 
him  without  ceremony  and  banished  him  to 
Vienne  in  Gaul,  where  he  had  time,  far  from 
Jerusalem,  to  meditate  upon  the  duties  of  a  ruler. 
The  principality  of  Archelaus  was  sequestered 
and  put  under  immediate  Eoman  government ; 
a  procurator  of  noble  rank  was  to  rule  it  subject 
to  the  legate  for  the  province  of  Syria. 

Thus  the  people  had  attained  what  they  had 
themselves  requested  ten  years  earlier,  but  they 
were  soon  to  realize  with  terror  what  a  yoke  they 
had  thereby  brought  upon  their  own  necks.  The 
moment  when  Judea  came  under  immediate 
Roman  government,  in  the  year  6  A.  D.,  is  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  While  Herod  and  his  sons 
from  mere  shrewdness  and  for  self-preservation 
had  shown  all  possible  consideration  for  the 
religious  convictions  of  the  Jews,  they  were  now 
exposed  without  rights  or  defense  to  the  whims 
of  Roman  subaltern  officials  who  regarded  their 
office  first  of  all  as  a  gold  mine,  had  absolutely 
no  appreciation  of  the  character  and  position  of 
the  Jews,  but  on  the  contrary  regarded  them 
with  dislike  and  contempt  and  took  a  fiendish 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        247 

delight  in  making  the  unfortunate  race  feel  their 
power  and  in  offending  and  mocking  them  in 
every  conceivable  manner. 

When  we  read  of  the  actions  and  tyrannical 
usurpations  of  these  " stewards,"  who  almost 
without  exception  were  pests,  it  seems  often  in- 
comprehensible that  the  Jews  endured  such  condi- 
tions for  sixty  years.  The  procurator  had  his 
official  residence  in  the  city  of  Caesarea,  which 
had  been  splendidly  built  up  and  beautified  by 
Herod.  Only  on  the  occasion  of  the  great  relig- 
ious festivals  were  they  accustomed  to  come  to 
Jerusalem  in  order  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  multi- 
tudes gathered  there  ;  then  they  occupied  the 
palace  of  Herod,  which  served  as  praetorium. 
They  had  control  of  all  military  and  financial 
matters  and  were  referees  in  affairs  of  justice  : 
capital  sentences,  especially,  pronounced  by  the 
sanhedrin,  required  their  confirmation.  As  a 
token  of  the  heathen  overlordship  which  was  felt 
by  the  Jews  to  be  especially  hard  and  oppressive, 
the  Romans  had  taken  under  their  charge  the 
high  priest's  robe  ;  it  was  kept  in  the  praatorium 
which  was  occupied  by  a  cohort  that  served  as  per- 
manent garrison  of  Jerusalem,  and  was  brought 
out  for  use  in  the  temple  only  four  times  a  year, 
at  the  three  high  feasts  and  on  the  day  of  atone- 
ment, but  had  to  be  returned  every  time  imme- 
diately after  it  had  been  used. 

The  very  first  experience  of  the  Roman  rule 
showed  what  was  to  be  expected  on  both  sides. 


248       HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Augustus  caused  a  census  of  the  new  province  to 
be  taken  by  the  Syrian  legate  P.  Sulpicius  Qui- 
rinus,  thereon  to  base  a  readjustment  of  the  taxes. 
At  this,  open  rebellion  broke  forth  on  every  side. 
The  high  priest  Joazar,  indeed,  by  shrewd  and 
conciliatory  management,  succeeded  in  avoiding 
the  worst  consequences  and  in  bringing  the  peo- 
ple to  reason  ;  but  the  irreconcilables  now  formed 
a  regular  faction,  the  enthusiasts  or  Zealots, 
whose  only  aim  was  to  oppose  the  Eoman  domin- 
ion by  every  possible  means  and  never  to  permit  a 
compromise  between  Israel  and  Kome  ;  the  lead- 
ers of  the  party  are  reported  to  have  been  the 
Galilean  Judas  (very  probably  a  son  of  Hezekiah, 
the  judicial  execution  of  whom  had  once  brought 
Herod  into  conflict  with  the  sanhedrin  at  Jeru- 
salem) and  a  Pharisee  named  Shadduck.  Thus 
from  the  start,  civil  war  was  latent  and  revolu- 
tion was  declared  as  a  standing  condition. 

Under  such  trying  circumstances  it  would  of 
course  have  required  persons  of  extraordinary 
tact  to  avoid  adding  new  stores  to  the  already 
great  mass  of  tinder.  But  these  procurators  were 
no  better,  rather  worse  if  possible,  than  they  gen- 
erally were  at  that  period.  Of  the  first  four  we 
know  scarcely  more  than  their  names.  From  the 
time  of  Coponius,  the  first  of  them,  Josephus  tells 
us  how  some  Samaritans  slipped  into  the  temple 
during  the  Pascha  period  and  strewed  all  about 
the  temple  human  bones  which  they  had  carried 
hidden  under  their  cloaks  ;  thus  the  temple  was 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        249 

made  unclean  for  seven  days,  and  Pascha  could 
not  be  celebrated  at  all.  The  fourth  of  them, 
Valerius  Gratus,  appointed  and  removed  not 
less  than  five  high  priests  during  his  eleven  years 
of  office.  We  have  more  details  concerning  only 
the  fifth  of  the  series,  Pontius  Pilate,  who  tor- 
mented the  Jews  from  26  to  36  A.  D.,  and  earned 
a  melancholy  immortality  through  the  destiny 
which,  supported  by  his  uneasy  conscience,  con- 
demned him  to  pronounce  upon  Jesus  the  sen- 
tence of  death  and  have  it  executed. 

Up  to  this  time  the  religious  views  of  the  Jews 
had  been  treated  with  the  utmost  possible  con- 
sideration, and  at  least  all  wanton  conflicts  had 
been  avoided  ;  in  particular  the  military  stand- 
ards with  the  image  of  the  emperor,  which  were 
especially  offensive  to  the  Jews,  had  been  kept 
away  from  Jerusalem.  This  seemed  to  Pilate  a 
lamentable  weakness,  and  one  night  he  caused 
some  of  these  images  to  be  brought  to  Jerusalem. 
When  the  Jews  saw  the  abomination  the  next 
morning  there  set  out  for  CaBsarea  a  deputation 
en  masse,  thousands  of  men,  women  and  children 
who  beset  the  procurator  for  five  days  and  nights 
with  their  cries  and  lamentations.  Pilate  declared 
that  the  honor  of  the  emperor  would  not  permit 
the  revocation  of  the  order  ;  finally  he  invited 
them  to  gather  in  the  stadium  at  the  end  of  six 
days,  when  he  would  give  them  his  decision.  He 
caused  the  whole  stadium  to  be  surrounded  by 
soldiers  who  awaited  only  his  nod  to  fall  upon  the 


250        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

defenseless  host.  After  they  were  all  assembled 
in  the  stadium  he  announced  that  the  standards 
would  and  must  remain  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  when 
a  loud  outcry  and  lamentation  answered  him  he 
ordered  the  soldiers  to  advance.  Then  the  Jews 
of  their  own  accord  bared  their  necks  and  breasts, 
begging  Pilate  to  kill  them  all  in  order  that 
they  might  not  be  constrained  to  witness  such  a 
sacrilege.  This  persistence  and  desperation  moved 
Pilate  to  recede  from  his  position :  he  dismissed 
the  Jews  and  the  standards  were  in  fact  quietly 
removed  from  Jerusalem. 

But  Pilate  hoped  to  gain  his  end  indirectly. 
He  caused  to  be  hung  up  on  the  walls  of  the  prse- 
torium  in  Jerusalem  votive  tablets  with  only  the 
name  of  the  emperor  and  of  himself  as  the  one 
offering  them.  Again  the  Jews  beset  Pilate  to 
recall  the  offensive  order,  but  this  time  he  was  in- 
exorable. Thereupon  they  appealed  directly  to 
Tiberius,  who,  seeing  that  Pilate  cared  less  to  hon- 
or him  than  to  offend  the  Jews,  commanded  the 
tablets  to  be  removed  and  hung  up  in  the  temple 
of  Augustus  which  Herod  had  built  at  Paneas. 
Encouraged  by  this  success,  the  Jews  opposed 
Pilate  even  where  religious  scruples  were  not  so 
distinctly  involved.  Pilate  recognized  the  need  of 
a  water  system  for  Jerusalem,  and  for  this  public 
labor  demanded  a  contribution  from  the  treasury 
of  the  temple.  When  he  came  to  Jerusalem  to 
inspect  the  construction  he  was  again  surrounded 
by  a  screaming  and  groaning  mob  ;  but  Pilate  had 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.    2$  I 

known  or  foreseen  what  was  to  come,  and  had 
given  orders  to  his  soldiers  to  mingle  with  the 
multitude  dressed  in  civilians'  garb  and  with  clubs 
under  their  cloaks.  At  a  sign  from  him  they  burst 
forth  and  with  their  clubs  slew  a  great  number 
of  people.  The  construction  was  completed  with- 
out further  disturbance. 

In  an  official  document  addressed  to  the  Emperor 
Caligula,  Pilate  is  described  as  inflexible  and  un- 
sparingly harsh  in  character,  and  his  administra- 
tion as  an  unbroken  series  of  outrages  and  crimes 
of  every  sort :  venality,  violence,  plunder,  abuse, 
insults,  continual  executions  without  sentence, 
and  infinite  and  unbearable  cruelties. 

Thus  we  can  understand  well  when  we  are  told 
that  Barabbas,  a  notorious  murderer  familiar  to 
us  in  connection  with  the  Passion  of  Jesus,  was 
captured  in  an  uprising,  and  that  Pilate  mingled 
the  blood  of  Galileans  with  their  sacrifices,  that 
is  to  say,  evidently  had  to  suppress  an  insurrec- 
tion of  Galileans  that  had  broken  out  in  the  temple. 
But  finally  the  unhappy  people  were  to  be  re- 
leased from  their  tormentor.  The  Samaritans  be- 
lieved that  the  ancient  and  sacred  vessels  of  the 
tabernacle  were  buried  on  Mount  Gerizim  and 
that  they  would  appear  again  at  the  approach  of 
the  Messianic  period.  A  zealot  or  a  fraud  invited 
the  people  to  gather  at  Mount  Gerizim  with  a 
promise  to  show  them  there  the  sacred  vessels. 
Pilate  had  heard  of  the  affair,  and  had  the  whole 
multitude  of  innocent  people  incontinently  hacked 


2$2        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

to  pieces.  For  this  the  Samaritans  brought 
charges  against  him  before  the  Syrian  legate, 
Vitellius,  who  suspended  him  from  his  office  im- 
mediately and  sent  him  to  Kome  to  answer  to  the 
charges.  Of  the  two  successors  of  Pilate  we  know 
only  the  names. 

At  Pascha  in  the  year  36  A.  D.  the  legate  Vitel- 
lius came  himself  to  Jerusalem  and  took  the  hearts 
of  the  Jewish  people  by  storm  by  giving  back  the 
high  priest's  robe  and  having  it  taken  back  to  the 
temple  for  free  use  on  all  occasions.  This  same 
Vitellius  shows  how  easy  it  was  with  even  a  mod- 
icum of  good  will  to  avoid  conflicts.  Herod  Anti- 
pas,  in  order  to  marry  his  sister-in-law,  Herodias, 
had  put  away  his  first  wife,  a  daughter  of  the 
Arab  sheik  Aretas,  and  as  a  result  got  into  a  war 
with  his  former  father-in-law,  which  was  turning 
out  very  unfortunately  for  himself.  Accordingly 
he  applied  to  Rome  for  aid  and  Tiberius  com- 
manded Vitellius  to  punish  the  Arab  sheik. 
Vitellius,  who  had  no  liking  at  all  for  Antipas,  was 
not  eager  to  do  this,  but  of  course  was  obliged  to 
obey  the  imperial  command.  He  set  out  upon  his 
expedition  from  Antioch.  At  the  border  of  the 
Holy  Land  he  was  met  by  a  Jewish  deputation  with 
the  urgent  petition  not  to  conduct  his  army  with 
the  imperial  images  through  Jewish  territory. 
Vitellius,  being  a  humane  and  considerate  man, 
actually  had  his  troops  go  around  the  Jewish  coun- 
try and  went  alone  to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was 
received  with  tremendous  enthusiasm.  Here  he 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

received  the  news  of  the  death  of  Tiberius  and 
returned  in  haste  to  Antioch  without  having 
taken  the  field  against  Aretas. 

With  the  death  of  Tiberius  begins  a  troublous 
time  for  Judea  ;  for  now  ascends  the  throne  of 
the  Caesars  that  horrible  combination  of  fool  and 
tyrant  which  continues  to  be  known  in  history 
under  the  nickname  of  Caligula.  Caligula  was 
completely  in  earnest  in  demanding  divine  wor- 
ship of  his  person,  and  the  servile  heathen  popu- 
lace made  haste  to  show  its  fidelity  by  the  erection 
of  altars  and  images  of  the  emperor.  Such  an 
altar  was  erected  in  Jamnia,  but  was  immediately 
torn  down  by  the  Jews.  When  the  emperor  heard 
of  this  he  commanded  that  his  image  be  set  up  in 
the  Holy  of  Holies  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem, 
and  the  legate  in  Syria,  Petronius,  was  directed 
to  march  forthwith  to  Jerusalem  with  all  the 
troops  at  his  disposal  in  order  to  carry  out  the 
imperial  command.  Petronius  was  a  man  of 
sense  ;  the  genuine  despair  of  the  Jews  made  such 
an  impression  upon  him  that  he  made  every  effort 
to  postpone  the  affair.  But  as  nothing  came  of 
these  efforts  and  the  emperor  insisted  on  his  order, 
Petronius  risked  the  anger  of  the  emperor,  with- 
drew his  troops  from  the  country  and  reported  to 
Caligula  that  the  execution  of  his  order  was  im- 
possible, wherefore  he  must  beg  him  to  rescind  it. 
Who  knows  what  would  have  happened  if  the 
Jews  had  not  had  in  King  Agrippa,  of  whom  we 
shall  soon  speak  more  at  length,  a  powerful  advo- 


254        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

cate  with  the  emperor.  Caligula  decreed  that  all 
should  remain  as  of  old  in  the  temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem, but  that  no  one  should  be  prevented  from 
erecting  altars  and  images  to  the  emperor  in  the 
rest  of  the  country.  As  punishment  for  his  in- 
subordination Petronius  received  orders  to  take 
his  own  life.  But  before  this  order  arrived  the 
good  legate  had  received  the  news  of  the  assassi- 
nation of  the  tyrant,  and  thus  the  danger  for 
Petronius  and  the  Jewish  people  was  past. 

And  now  Judea  was  destined  once  more  to  be- 
come an  independent  realm  and  a  Jewish  king 
once  more  to  unite  under  his  scepter  the  whole 
territory  of  Herod.  Agrippa  was  the  son  of 
Aristobulus,  the  second  son  of  Herod  and  Mari- 
amne,  and  consequently  a  scion  of  the  Maccabees. 
In  his  youth  he  lived  at  Rome,  like  all  young 
princes  at  that  time.  He  followed  the  instincts 
of  youth  and  incurred  grudges  and  debts  until  the 
soil  of  Rome  became  too  warm  for  him.  He  ar- 
rived in  his  native  country  absolutely  without 
means  of  subsistence.  His  sister  Herodias  ap- 
pealed on  his  behalf  to  her  husband,  Antipas, 
who  gave  him  the  position  of  market  prefect  at 
Tiberias.  But  Antipas,  on  an  occasion  when  he 
was  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  having  re- 
proached his  brother-in-law  at  the  public  table 
with  living  wholly  at  his  expense,  Agrippa  had 
sufficient  sense  of  honor  to  resign  the  position  of 
market  prefect.  He  went  to  Antioch,  to  the  le- 
gate Flaccus,  whom  he  had  known  at  Rome,  but 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        255 

was  soon  obliged  to  leave  this  place  also  when 
Flaccus  learned  that  Agrippa  was  making  capital 
out  of  his  friendship  and  receiving  payment  for 
his  interference  in  government  affairs.  After  an 
adventurous  journey,  on  which  he  barely  escaped 
from  his  creditors,  he  finally  landed  in  Rome, 
paid  his  respects  to  the  old  emperor  at  Capri  and 
formed  a  close  friendship  with  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  Gaius  Caesar,  the  later  Caligula.  An  in- 
cautious expression  of  Agrippa's  having  come  to 
the  ears  of  Tiberius,  he  had  him  imprisoned  ;  but 
only  six  months  after  this  Agrippa's  boon  com- 
panion, Caligula,  ascended  the  throne,  released 
his  friend  from  prison,  presented  him  with  a 
chain  of  gold  as  heavy  as  the  iron  chain  which  he 
had  worn,  and  in  addition  gave  him  the  tetrar- 
chate  of  his  deceased  uncle  Philip  with  the  title 
of  king. 

For  a  time  the  newly  appointed  king  remained 
in  Rome,  and  did  not  start  upon  the  journey  into 
his  kingdom  for  a  year  and  a  half.  Then  he 
went  by  way  of  Alexandria.  There  lived  in  Alex- 
andria at  that  time  a  Jewish  man  whom  not  even 
the  briefest  history  of  the  people  of  Israel  can 
pass  over  in  silence,  the  philosopher  Philo.  The 
importance  and  influence  of  this  man  are  almost 
incalculable.  He  was  the  first  who  succeeded  in 
completely  and  harmoniously  uniting  Shem  and 
Japhet.  He  is  a  Jew  by  conviction  and  at  the 
same  time  a  perfect  Greek,  who  makes  it  the  task 
of  his  life  to  combine  into  a  higher  unity  revela- 


256       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

tion  and  philosophy,  to  establish  religion  upon  a 
philosophical  basis  and  to  transfigure  philosophy 
with  the  spirit  of  religion.  Only  in  this  does  the 
Jew  appear  :  that  the  religious  element  is  de- 
cidedly predominant  and  that  his  ultimate  aim  is 
not  philosophical  but  religious. 

The  unique  significance  of  this  man  lies  in  the 
fact  that,  while  his  people  refused  to  follow  him 
and  under  the  pressure  of  circumstances  soon  en- 
tered upon  a  course  exactly  the  opposite  of  his 
own,  the  Christian  Church  walked  in  his  footsteps. 
It  adopted  Philo's  especial  conception  and  treat- 
ment of  the  Old  Testament  and  his  philosophical 
method :  the  whole  theology  and  dogmatics  of 
the  early  church,  especially  of  the  church  of  Alex- 
andria and  the  Orient,  which  laid  the  foundation 
of  dogmatics,  is  inconceivable  without  Philo. 
We  owe  to  him  also  the  account  of  the  terrible 
events  that  took  place  in  Alexandria  at  that  time. 
Although  Agrippa  avoided  any  offensive  action 
on  the  occasion  of  his  visit,  nevertheless  the  king 
of  the  Jews  was  most  rudely  insulted  by  the  pop- 
ulace of  Alexandria,  and  from  this  resulted  one 
of  the  most  shocking  persecutions  of  the  Jews 
that  is  reported  in  history. 

Fresh  from  the  impression  of  such  occurrences, 
Agrippa  entered  his  kingdom.  Now  he  out- 
ranked his  neighbor,  the  uncle  and  brother-in- 
law  upon  whose  bounty  he  had  shortly  before 
been  dependent.  The  pride  of  Herodias  could 
not  endure  this ;  she  did  not  rest  until  her  hus« 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.       257 

band  had  gone  to  Rome  in  order  to  beg  the  royal 
title  for  himself.  But  Agrippa  had  already  pre- 
pared his  friend  Caligula  to  give  him  a  fitting  re- 
ception ;  Antipas  was  simply  deposed  and  exiled 
to  Lyons,  and  Agrippa  received  his  kingdom  in 
addition  to  his  own.  Herodias  remained  faith- 
ful to  her  husband  even  in  the  misfortune  into 
which  she  had  plunged  him,  and  accompanied 
him  on  his  exile  into  Gaul ;  there  they  both 
died. 

Agrippa  happened  to  be  in  Rome  just  at  the 
time  when  his  friend  and  patron,  Caligula,  was 
murdered  ;  and  to  him  chiefly  the  weak  and  con- 
temptible Claudius  owed  his  elevation  to  the 
throne  of  the  Ca3sars.  Now  Claudius  showed 
his  gratitude  :  he  conferred  upon  Agrippa  in  ad- 
dition the  whilom  Roman  province  of  Judea,  so 
that  in  the  year  41  A.  D.  there  was  once  more  a 
Jewish  kingdom  under  a  native  ruler.  As  a  king 
of  united  Judea,  Agrippa  made  earnest  efforts  to 
atone  for  his  former  graceless  life.  The  three 
years  of  dominion  which  were  vouchsafed  him 
are  the  last  bright  spot  in  the  history  of  the 
people  of  Israel. 

As  is  often  the  case  with  flippant  and  dissolute 
people,  Agrippa  seems  to  have  been  personally 
very  good-natured,  attractive  and  amiable  ;  along 
with  this  he  observed  most  strictly  and  conscien- 
tiously all  the  laws  and  commandments,  and  en- 
deavored in  all  respects  to  be  a  faithful  and  pious 
Jew.  Once  more  under  his  rule  the  Pharisees  had 


258       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

things  their  own  way,  and  the  people  were  at- 
tached to  him  with  affectionate  ardor,  while  his 
heathen  subjects  felt  for  him  an  equally  great 
hatred  and  contempt.  Withal,  he  used  his  great 
personal  influence  with  Claudius  everywhere  for 
the  advantage  of  the  Jews,  just  as  his  grandfather 
Herod  had  done.  In  order  to  please  the  Jews  he 
persecuted  the  rising  Christian  Church  and  had 
the  apostle  James  beheaded. 

He  also  looked  after  the  outward  welfare  of  his 
people  and  his  kingdom,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
building  new  fortifications  about  Jerusalem  when 
the  Syrian  legate,  Marsus,  reported  the  matter  to 
Eome,  whereupon  the  Eoman  government  forbade 
the  continuation  of  the  work.  A  council  of  princes 
which  he  called  to  meet  at  Tiberias,  at  which  five 
Roman  vassal-princes  were  present,  was  dispersed 
by  Marsus,  who  went  in  person  to  Tiberias  and 
simply  sent  the  members  home. 

But  this  last  happy  period  for  the  Jewish  people 
was  not  to  last  long.  After  a  reign  of  but  three 
years  Agrippa  died  at  Csesarea  a  sudden  death, 
the  remarkable  circumstances  of  which  are  related 
in  substantial  agreement  by  Josephus  and  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  heathen  inhabitants  of 
Csesarea  gave  unrestrained  expression  to  their  joy 
at  the  death  of  the  Jewish  king  and  insulted  most 
obscenely  the  statues  of  his  daughters.  What 
was  likely  to  be  the  result  when  this  hatred  could 
flame  out  unchecked,  or  even  if  possible  be  stirred 
up? 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        259 

Agrippa  left  three  daughters,  and  a  son  of  seven- 
teen years  bearing  his  own  name.  The  Koman 
government  considered  it  dangerous  to  entrust 
the  Jewish  people  to  the  hands  of  so  young  a  ruler. 
And  the  hesitation  was  certainly  well  founded. 
Josephus  reports  the  remarkable  fact  that  about 
this  time  two  Jewish  brothers  from  Nehardea  in 
Mesopotamia,  by  name  Asinaeus  and  Anilseus,  had 
placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  a  great  troop  of 
Jews  there  and  were  keeping  all  Mesopotamia  in 
excitement  and  terror.  Accordingly  the  youthful 
Agrippa  remained  for  the  time  being  as  a  private 
citizen  in  Rome,  where  indeed  he  took  every  oppor- 
tunity to  be  of  use  to  his  countrymen  ;  the  whole 
kingdom  of  his  father  was  sequestered  as  a  Roman 
province  and  again  placed  under  the  administra- 
tion of  a  procurator  subordinate  to  the  legate  in 
Syria.  The  supervision  over  the  temple  and  the 
right  to  appoint  and  remove  high  priests  were  con- 
ferred upon  a  younger  brother  of  the  deceased 
Agrippa,  Herod  by  name,  who  through  the  inter- 
vention of  his  brother  had  received  the  little  king- 
dom of  Chalcis  at  the  foot  of  Lebanon. 

With  the  return  of  Judea  to  a  Roman  adminis- 
tration begins  the  prelude  of  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  Jewish  people — perhaps  the 
most  shocking  tragedy  known  to  the  history  of 
the  world.  The  seven  procurators  who  had  the 
administration  of  the  unhappy  land  from  44  to 
66  A.  D.  seemed  to  act  as  if  in  concert  in  order  to 
drive  the  people  to  despair  and  revolt.  The  very 


260        HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

first,  Cuspius  Fadus,  began  his  official  career  with 
an  act  of  petty  spite  by  demanding  back  the  high 
priest's  robe.  The  Jews  appealed  first  to  the 
Syrian  legate,  Cassius  Longinus,  and,  this  being 
without  result,  directly  to  the  emperor ;  here 
young  Agrippa,  by  his  personal  connections,  man- 
aged to  secure  a  decision  that  all  should  remain 
as  of  old.  Josephus  characterizes  the  activity  of 
Fadus  in  the  words  :  "  With  the  greatest  discre- 
tion and  energy  he  purged  all  Judea  of  highway- 
men." We  already  know  what  to  think  of  that. 
One  detail  has  been  transmitted  to  us.  A  certain 
Theudas,  who  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  had  summoned  the  people  to  the  Jordan 
where  at  his  command  the  miracle  of  Joshua  was 
to  be  repeated.  Fadus  sent  thither  a  company  of 
cavalry,  who  simply  cut  the  people  down  and 
brought  the  head  of  Theudas  to  Jerusalem. 

Tiberius  Alexander,  the  successor  of  Fadus,  was 
himself  a  Jew  and  a  nephew  of  the  philosopher 
Philo.  But  Alexander  was  a  renegade  who  had 
no  feeling  for  his  people ;  he  even  served  Titus 
later  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  as  chief  counselor. 
Under  him  Judea  was  visited  by  a  severe  famine. 
Furthermore  he  crucified  two  sons  of  Judas,  the 
founder  of  the  faction  of  the  Zealots,  by  name 
James  and  Simon. 

But  these  were  innocent  trifles  compared  with 
what  took  place  under  the  third  procurator,  Ven- 
tidius  Cumanus,  from  48  to  52  A.  D.  On  the 
great  holidays  the  procurator  was  always  present 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        261 

in  Jerusalem,  and  a  guard  was  stationed  in  the 
temple.  On  the  day  of  Pascha  a  soldier  of  the 
temple  guard  indulged  in  an  unmentionable 
obscene  insult  of  the  ceremonial  procession.  The 
people  hastened  to  Cumanus  in  order  to  demand 
the  punishment  of  the  offender.  When  Cumanus 
failed  to  satisfy  their  demands,  he  himself  was 
assailed  with  abusive  epithets  and  stones  were 
thrown  at  the  guards.  Then  Cumanus  gave  the 
word  to  attack,  and  there  resulted  such  a  butchery 
and  such  a  fearful  riot  that  ten  thousand,  accord- 
ing to  another  report  twenty  thousand,  persons 
perished. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  such  occurrences  kindled 
anew  the  hatred  against  the  Eomans.  Thus  an 
imperial  official,  Stephanus,  was  attacked  shortly 
after  this  upon  the  open  highway  not  far  from 
Jerusalem  and  robbed  of  all  he  had.  As  the  per- 
petrators could  not  be  found  out,  Cumanus  for  pun- 
ishment had  all  the  adjacent  villages  plundered 
by  his  soldiers.  On  this  occasion  a  roll  of  the 
Thora  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  soldiery,  and  one 
of  them  could  not  refrain  from  tearing  the  sacred 
book  to  pieces  before  the  eyes  of  the  horror- 
stricken  Jews  and  throwing  the  fragments  with 
rude  jests  into  the  fire.  Again  the  people  resorted 
to  one  of  those  popular  demonstrations  en  masse 
and  went  to  Cumanus  at  Csesarea.  The  excite- 
ment was  so  tremendous  that  Cumanus  found  it 
advisable  to  give  in.  He  had  the  perpetrator  of 
the  outrage  led  forth  and  decapitated  before  the 


Z62       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

eyes  of  the  Jews,  whereupon  they  dispersed  and 
returned  home. 

A  third  instance  was  still  worse.  Some  Sa- 
maritans had  murdered  a  Galilean  on  his  way  to 
the  celebration  in  Jerusalem  ;  the  Jews  com- 
plained, but  Cumanus,  bribed  by  the  Samaritans, 
paid  no  attention  to  the  complaint.  Now  the 
Jews  took  redress  into  their  own  hands  ;  great 
troops  armed  themselves  and  attacked  the  Sa- 
maritans, and,  as  Josephus  himself  relates,  cut 
down  all  without  regard  for  age  or  sex,  and  laid 
the  villages  in  ashes.  Now  Cumanus  sent  his 
tribune,  Celer,  against  the  insurgents,  and  the 
Roman  soldiers  of  course  made  easy  work  of  the 
undisciplined  hordes.  It  need  not  be  added  that 
they  took  merciless  advantage  of  their  victory. 
Now  the  Jews  complained  to  the  Syrian  legate, 
Ummidius  Quadratus.  He  investigated  the  affair 
and  crucified  all  whom  Cumanus  had  taken  alive, 
besides  arresting  and  decapitating  eighteen  others 
who  were  deeply  compromised  ;  but  Cumanus 
himself  he  suspended  from  office,  and  sent  him, 
together  with  the  tribune,  Celer,  to  Rome,  there 
to  give  account  of  themselves  before  the  emperor. 

Again  the  influence  of  Agrippa  was  felt ;  Cuma- 
nus was  exiled  and  the  tribune  Celer  taken  back 
to  Jerusalem,  where  he  was  dragged  through 
the  streets  and  executed  ;  even  the  guilty  Samar- 
itans were  executed.  The  ex-high  priest  Jona- 
than, the  successor  of  the  Caiaphas  of  the  New 
Testament,  who  headed  the  Jewish  delegation 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        263 

which  had  accused  Cumanus  and  the  Samaritans 
in  Rome,  asked  of  Claudius  as  an  especial  favor 
that  Felix,  the  brother  of  the  all-powerful  freed- 
man  of  the  emperor,  be  made  Roman  procurator. 
The  emperor  willingly  granted  this  request,  and 
thus  a  man  of  the  most  fateful  destiny  enters 
upon  the  soil  of  Palestine.  His  administration 
is  the  turning-point ;  from  that  time  on  the  rev- 
olution became  established. 

The  great  historian  Tacitus  characterizes  Felix 
as  a  man  who  exercised  the  authority  of  a  king 
with  the  temper  of  a  slave  through  every  sort  of 
cruelty  and  license,  and  who,  as  brother  of  the 
all-powerful  Pallas,  thought  himself  able  to  prac- 
tise all  his  outrages  with  impunity.  We  can  still 
recognize  clearly  the  various  stages  through 
which  events  developed.  First  Felix  attacked 
the  Zealots.  He  succeeded  by  treacherous  viola- 
tion of  his  word  in  capturing  alive  their  leader, 
Eleazar,  whom  he  sent  to  Rome  in  chains  :  "  The 
number  of  highwaymen  who  were  crucified,  and 
of  those  who  were  executed  in  other  ways  on 
suspicion  of  making  common  cause  with  high- 
waymen, cannot  be  calculated,"  says  Josephus, 
with  blood-curdling  brevity. 

The  answer  to  this  Roman  policy  of  extreme 
brutal  violence  was  not  long  lacking.  Now  was 
formed  the  party  of  the  so-called  Sicarii,  whose 
maxim  was  to  put  Romans  and  Roman  sym- 
pathizers out  of  the  way  by  assassination.  With 
short  daggers,  called  "sica,"  under  their  cloaks, 


264       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

they  mingled  with  the  multitude,  crowded  upon 
their  victims  and  stabbed  them  unseen.  One  of 
their  first  victims  was  the  high  priest  Jonathan, 
whom  they  murdered  at  the  direction  of  the  proc- 
urator. Jonathan,  who  had  secured  the  position 
for  Felix,  was  an  inconvenient  monitor,  and  kept 
urging  him  to  endeavor  to  give  a  more  just  ad- 
ministration. Thereupon  Felix  paid  to  the  Scarii 
through  a  go-between  a  large  sum  of  money  to 
have  them  put  his  troublesome  friend  out  of  the 
way.  The  wretches  actually  went  to  Jerusalem 
in  the  disguise  of  pilgrims  and  stabbed  the  high 
priest  in  the  temple.  Of  course  the  perpetrators 
of  the  infamous  deed  instigated  by  the  procurator 
himself  remained  undiscovered  and  unpunished. 
The  evil  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  soon  no 
one  felt  his  life  to  be  safe,  and  people  suspected  an 
assassin  in  every  one  they  chanced  to  meet. 

There  were  religious  as  well  as  political  fanatics, 
false  prophets  and  Messiahs  who  stirred  up  the 
people  and  promised  miracles  and  signs.  When 
Felix  proceeded  against  these  also  with  barba- 
rous severity,  and  when  even  the  more  conserva- 
tive Jews  helped  him  in  suppressing  the  particu- 
larly dangerous  uprising  led  by  the  Egyptian  who 
is  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  fanat- 
ics went  through  the  country  in  troops  with  the 
watchword  that  those  who  chose  voluntarily  to  be 
slaves  must  be  forced  into  freedom.  Everywhere 
they  murdered  those  friendly  to  Rome,  pillaged 
their  houses  and  their  villages  and  then  gave  them 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       265 

to  the  flames.  Besides  all  this  there  was  a  regular 
civil  war  between  the  Jewish  and  non-Jewish 
population  in  Csesarea,  the  residence  of  the  proc- 
urator himself.  The  Jews  claimed  that  CaBsarea, 
having  been  built  by  a  Jewish  king,  was  a  Jewish 
city,  which  the  heathen  of  course  would  not  ad- 
mit. The  Jews  were  in  the  majority,  but  the  hea- 
then had  the  Roman  soldiers  on  their  side.  Once 
when  the  Jews  were  getting  the  best  of  it  in  such 
an  encounter,  Felix  ordered  the  soldiers  to  use 
their  swords  and  plunder  the  houses  of  the  richest 
Jews,  and  when  the  disturbances  did  not  cease 
sent  the  leaders  of  both  parties  to  Rome  to  advocate 
their  cause  before  Nero.  By  bribing  Nero's  secre- 
tary the  heathen  secured  a  decision  adverse  to  the 
Jews  and  recognizing  themselves  as  masters  of  the 
city.  During  these  scenes  of  violence  the  Apostle 
Paul  lay  in  prison  in  Caesarea. 

However,  Felix  did  not  live  to  hear  the  decis- 
ion. After  a  rule  of  eight  years  he  was  recalled, 
probably  in  the  year  60  A.  D. ,  and  barely  man- 
aged to  escape  being  sentenced  at  Rome.  A 
searching  side-light  is  thrown  upon  Jewish  con- 
ditions at  that  time  by  the  report  of  Josephus, 
that  the  high  priest  Ishmael,  through  his  servants, 
appropriated  to  himself  alone  the  tithes  due  to  all 
the  other  priests  and  Levites,  so  that  even  priests 
died  of  starvation. 

At  last  they  seemed  to  understand  at  Rome  that 
they  had  obligations  toward  Judea  ;  Felix  was 
succeeded  by  Porcius  Festus,  a  really  upright  man 


266       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

with  good  intentions  and  a  sense  of  justice. 
Festus  too  had  to  deal  with  highwaymen  and  Sic- 
arii  and  false  prophets,  but  even  now  the  worst 
might  have  been  avoided  had  not  Festus  died  after 
two  short  years.  The  high  priest  Ananos  used  the 
interval  between  the  death  of  Festus  and  the  ar- 
rival of  his  successor  to  have  James,  the  brother 
of  Jesus,  stoned  to  death.  This  next  procurator, 
Albinus, — I  now  quote  from  Josephus, — "  con- 
ducted affairs  in  an  entirely  different  spirit  from 
his  predecessors  ;  there  was  no  wickedness  that  he 
did  not  practise.  Not  only  did  he  embezzle  public 
moneys  and  rob  a  multitude  of  private  citizens  of 
their  property  and  burden  the  whole  people  with 
imposts,  but  he  released  captive  highwaymen  for 
ransoms  from  their  relatives  ;  those  that  could  not 
pay  remained  in  prison.  Every  villain  gathered  a 
band  of  his  own,  and  Albinus  towered  among  them 
like  a  robber-chief,  using  his  adherents  to  plunder 
honest  citizens.  The  victims  remained  silent ; 
others,  still  exempt,  flattered  the  wretch  in  order 
to  secure  immunity.  Nevertheless  Albinus  ap- 
peared honorable  in  comparison  with  his  successor, 
Gessius  Florus.  For  while  the  former  had  prac- 
tised his  villainies  in  secret,  and  with  a  certain 
degree  of  caution,  Gessius  Florus  made  an  open 
boast  of  his  crimes  against  the  people  ;  he  practised 
every  sort  of  robbery  and  abuse  precisely  as  though 
he  had  been  sent  to  punish  condemned  criminals. 
His  cruelty  was  pitiless,  his  infamies  shameless  ; 
never  before  did  any  one  so  veil  truth  with  deceit, 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        267 

or  discover  more  cunning  ways  of  accomplishing 
his  knaveries.  To  enrich  himself  at  the  expense 
of  individuals  was  not  enough  for  him  ;  he  robbed 
whole  cities  and  ruined  whole  communities ; 
things  could  not  have  been  worse  had  he  made  pub- 
lic proclamation  throughout  the  land  that  every- 
one might  plunder  where  and  what  he  would, 
provided  only  that  he  himself  received  his  share 
of  the  booty.  Whole  districts  were  depopulated 
by  his  greed,  multitudes  left  their  homes  and  fled 
into  foreign  provinces."  A  single  syllable  added 
would  destroy  the  impression  made  by  these  words 
of  Josephus. 

When  the  legate  in  Syria,  Cestius  Gallus,  was 
in  Jerusalem  on  the  occasion  of  the  Easter  cele- 
bration he  was  surrounded  by  three  million  Jews 
who  besought  him  with  tears  and  lamentations  to 
take  pity  on  their  unspeakable  misery.  Florus 
stood  beside  the  legate  and  listened  to  the  com- 
plaints with  a  scornful  smile.  Gallus  promised  to 
persuade  Florus  to  be  milder,  and  the  two  left 
Jerusalem,  the  latter  with  the  firm  intention  of 
forcing  the  Jews  into  rebellion  as  the  only  means 
of  concealing  his  own  crimes  and  infamies. 

Soon  there  were  new  troubles  in  Csesarea.  The 
most  prominent  Jews  endeavored  to  approach 
Florus  on  his  own  footing,  offering  him  eight 
talents,  about  $7,500,  if  he  would  check  the  arro- 
gant encroachments  of  the  heathen.  Florus  took 
the  money  and  left  Caesarea,  of  course  without 
doing  anything.  The  following  Sabbath  the  hea- 


268        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

then  went  so  far  as  to  publicly  ridicule  and  disturb 
the  Jewish  worship.  From  this  arose  such  a  fear- 
ful riot  that  even  the  Roman  troops  in  Csesarea 
were  unable  to  restore  order.  When  a  delegation 
of  Jews  went  to  Florus  and  referred  plainly  to  the 
eight  talents,  Florus  simply  imprisoned  them. 

Then  came  the  drop  which  filled  the  brimming 
cup  to  overflowing.  On  the  pretense  that  the  em- 
peror needed  the  money  Florus  demanded  from  the 
treasury  of  the  temple  seventeen  talents  (that  is, 
about  $15, 000).  At  this  their  rage  burst  forth  like 
flames  ;  with  dreadful  outcries  and  uttering  im- 
precations upon  Florus,  the  multitude  gathered 
in  the  temple,  and  some  waggish  fellows  passed 
a  plate  to  take  up  a  collection  for  poor,  distressed 
Florus.  To  avenge  this  insult  he  marched  upon 
Jerusalem  with  his  troops.  A  respectful  deputa- 
tion went  forth  to  meet  him  ;  but  Florus  chal- 
lenged them  through  fifty  horsemen  sent  in  ad- 
vance to  mock  him  to  his  face,  and  the  horsemen 
charged  upon  them  and  scattered  them  in  fright. 
The  next  morning  Florus  established  his  tribunal 
and  demanded  the  surrender  of  those  that  had 
mocked  him.  But  when  they  calmly  represented 
to  him  the  impossibility  of  this,  since  those  persons 
were  not  known  and  not  to  be  discovered,  Florus 
commanded  his  troops  to  pillage  Jerusalem  and 
cut  down  every  one  they  met.  Florus  even 
scourged  and  crucified  Jews  who  possessed  the 
rank  of  Roman  knighthood,  and  on  this  one  day 
three  thousand  six  hundred  persons  perished. 


HISTORY   OF  THE    PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        269 

Berenice,  the  sister  of  King  Agrippa,  happening 
to  be  in  Jerusalem  at  the  time,  went  barefoot  to 
Florus  and  implored  mercy  for  her  people  :  but 
she  was  treated  roughly  and  driven  away  with 
insult  and  abuse.  This  occurred  on  the  16th  of 
May  of  the  year  66  A.  D. 

But  even  now  the  more  prudent  succeeded  in 
calming  the  rebellious  people.  This  was  very 
unwelcome  to  Florus,  and  he  declared  that  he 
could  not  regard  their  desire  for  peace  as  sincere 
unless  they  would  formally  meet  and  salute  two 
cohorts  which  were  approaching  from  Ca3sarea. 
At  the  urgent  entreaty  of  the  priests  the  people 
consented  even  to  this.  But  Florus  had  com- 
manded the  cohorts  not  to  return  the  greeting  of 
the  Jews,  and  to  attack  them  the  moment  a  word 
of  resentment  was  heard.  The  result  was  actually 
as  he  anticipated  :  the  soldiers  were  saluted  with 
respect  but  did  not  return  the  greeting  of  the 
Jews  ;  the  latter  were  at  first  surprised,  and  then 
when  some  began  to  murmur  the  soldiers  drew 
their  swords  and  began  the  slaughter.  At  the 
same  time  Florus  started  out  from  Jerusalem  with 
his  remaining  troops  and  thus  attacked  the  peo- 
ple from  both  sides.  But  the  latter  held  their 
ground  and  the  small  force  of  troops  were  insuffi- 
cient to  prevail  against  the  population  of  Jerusa- 
lem. During  the  night  all  the  bridges  and  ap- 
proaches to  the  temple  were  destroyed.  When 
Florus,  who  had  intended  to  plunder  the  temple, 
found  this  plan  frustrated,  he  departed  from  Jeru- 


270       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

salem,  leaving  in  charge  a  Roman  cohort  and 
making  the  priests  and  leaders  of  the  people  re- 
sponsible for  keeping  the  peace. 

Both  Florus  and  the  Jews  reported  this  occur- 
rence to  the  legate,  Cestius  Gallus  ;  but  as  these 
reports,  were  naturally  contradictory,  Cestius  sent 
the  tribune  Neapolitanus  to  Jerusalem  to  ascer- 
tain the  facts.  Neapolitanus  was  received  with 
much  ceremony,  and  the  Jews  poured  forth  their 
woes  in  eloquent  words,  saying  that  they  were 
opposed  only  to  Florus  and  not  to  the  Romans. 
To  show  him  how  peaceably  disposed  the  people 
were  Neapolitanus  was  invited  to  walk  about  the 
entire  city  with  but  a  single  guide  and  see  whether 
the  slightest  harm  would  befall  him.  In  fact 
Neapolitanus  made  the  experiment  and  was  soon 
so  sure  of  the  situation  that  he  summoned  the 
people  together,  praised  their  loyal  and  faithful 
conduct  and  admonished  them  urgently  once  more 
to  keep  the  peace,  and  all  might  turn  out  well. 
With  this  he  returned  to  Antioch  to  make  his 
report  to  the  legate. 

Now  the  people  requested  Agrippa,  who  had 
accompanied  Neapolitanus  to  Jerusalem,  to  de- 
nounce Florus  to  Nero.  Agrippa  demanded  that 
they  first  restore  the  broken  connections  between 
the  fortress  and  the  temple  and  pay  the  forty 
talents  of  taxes  still  in  arrears  (about  $38,000). 
Both  demands  were  complied  with ;  they  began 
at  once  to  build  up  what  had  been  destroyed  and 
the  large  sum  was  soon  raised  by  voluntary  con- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        2/1 

tributions.  But  when  Agrippa  further  demanded 
that  pending  the  emperor's  decision  they  should 
recognize  Florus  as  procurator,  and  honor  and 
obey  him,  he  was  greeted  with  a  shower  of  stones 
and  speedily  left  Jerusalem.  In  accordance  with 
a  formal  decision  the  daily  sacrifice  in  the  temple 
for  the  emperor  and  the  empire  was  now  dis- 
continued, and  thus  war  was  declared — hence- 
forth there  was  no  return  for  either  side. 


2/2        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  WAR  IN  JUDEA  AND  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF 
JERUSALEM. 

TT7"E  are  about  to  view  the  final  act  of  the  terri- 
ble drama.  Our  inclinations  would  bid  us 
turn  away  in  mournful  silence  and  close  our  eyes 
to  the  frightful  things  we  shall  behold  ;  perhaps 
more  shocking  things  have  never  happened  on 
earth  than  in  this  last  desperate  life-and-death 
struggle  of  the  people  of  Israel.  But  the  duty  of 
the  historian  compels  us  to  look  matters  in  the 
face,  and,  what  is  still  sadder,  it  compels  the  spec- 
tator to  act  as  judge.  Even  though  our  hearts 
should  break  over  all  this  misery  and  suffering, 
there  is  no  atoning  feature  ;  the  genuine  tragic 
sympathy  is  wanting.  We  behold  only  a  mad 
riot  of  all  the  passions,  which  blindly  assail  one 
another  ;  the  most  shocking  deeds  were  commit- 
ted by  Jews  against  Jews,  and  the  most  victims 
fell  not  by  the  sword  of  the  Romans,  but  by  that 
of  the  infatuated  nation  itself.  The  most  fright- 
ful terrors  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  combined 
with  the  most  frightful  terrors  of  the  French 
Revolution  will  come  before  our  reluctant  gaze. 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        273 

It  seems  as  though  all  the  fiends  of  hell  were  re- 
leased in  order  to  destroy  the  people  to  whom 
God  had  spoken  aforetime  often  and  in  many  dif- 
ferent ways  through  his  prophets.  Scarcely  on 
another  occasion  in  history  has  the  spectator  the 
same  feeling  of  irredeemable  ruin,  of  inevitable 
destruction,  as  in  the  case  of  the  fall  of  Jerusalem 
in  the  year  70  A.  D. 

Eleazar,  the  son  of  the  high  priest  Ananias, 
first  becomes  the  leader  of  the  war  party.  The 
stronghold  Massada,  built  by  Herod,  was  taken 
by  a  sudden  assault,  and  in  Jerusalem  all  prep- 
arations were  made  for  the  impending  war.  But 
there  was  still  a  strong  peace  party  who  foresaw 
certain  ruin  in  a  conflict  with  Eome,  and  even  yet 
wanted  peace  at  any  price.  They  applied  for  as- 
sistance to  King  Agrippa,  who  actually  sent  them 
three  thousand  soldiers.  The  war  party  had  their 
headquarters  in  the  temple,  which  by  its  position 
was  an  almost  impregnable  fortress  ;  the  peace 
party  in  the  citadel.  Blood  flowed  daily,  and 
civil  war  was  raging  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem 
when  the  war  party  received  reinforcements. 
Menahem,  a  grandson  of  the  old  rebel  and 
Roman-hater,  Judas  the  Galilean,  broke  open 
the  arsenals  of  Masada  and  armed  a  large  force 
of  Sicarii,  with  whom  he  marched  to  Jerusa- 
lem. At  this  the  peace  party  saw  the  impossi- 
bility of  further  opposition  ;  the  troops  of  Agrippa 
were  allowed  to  depart,  but  the  Roman  cohort 
was  expressly  refused  permission  to  do  so.  They 
id 


274       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

took  refuge  in  a  particularly  strong  tower,  while 
the  leaders  of  the  peace  party  concealed  them- 
selves. At  their  head  stood  the  high  priest  Ana- 
nias ;  he  was  murdered,  together  with  his  brother, 
and  the  torch  applied  to  his  palace  as  well  as  to 
that  of  Agrippa  and  Berenice,  and  the  portion  of 
the  citadel,  already  taken,  in  which  were  all  the 
archives,  including  the  tax  accounts  and  the  rec- 
ords of  loans.  This  was  on  the  6th  of  Septem- 
ber, 66  A.  D.  But  scarcely  had  the  war  party 
obtained  the  upper  hand  in  Jerusalem  when 
Eleazar  and  Menahem  began  to  make  war  on  each 
other.  The  men  of  Jerusalem  did  not  propose  to 
accept  commands  from  the  foreign  adventurer  ; 
Menahem  and  his  troop  were  attacked  in  the 
temple,  and  overpowered,  he  himself  executed 
under  torture  and  his  troops  massacred.  Finally, 
the  Koman  cohort  also  had  to  surrender.  They 
were  promised  free  retreat  on  the  delivery  of  their 
arms ;  but  scarcely  had  they  actually  laid  them 
down  when  the  Jews  fell  upon  the  defenseless 
men  and  butchered  them  to  the  last  one.  Only 
the  tribune,  Metilius,  was  so  contemptible  as  to 
purchase  his  life  by  submitting  to  circumcision. 
Josephus  calls  especial  attention  to  the  fact  that 
this  incredible  infamy  was  perpetrated  on  a  Sab- 
bath. 

The  fortresses  of  Cyprus  and  Macha3rus  also 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  so  that  very  soon 
there  was  not  a  Roman  left  in  the  country. 

Now  the  war  extended  into  all  quarters  and 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.       275 

assumed  altogether  the  nature  of  a  race-conflict  : 
where  the  Jews  were  in  the  majority  they  mas- 
sacred the  heathen,  and  where  the  heathen  were 
in  the  majority  the  Jews  met  a  like  fate.  Thus 
in  Csesarea  alone  more  than  twenty  thousand 
Jews  were  slaughtered  in  one  hour,  in  Damascus 
ten  thousand,  and  in  this  connection  Josephus 
makes  the  characteristic  observation  that  the 
heathen  in  Damascus  must  needs  have  kept  this 
plan  a  close  secret  from  their  women,  since  the 
women  were  almost  without  exception  proselytes. 
At  last  the  Syrian  legate,  Cestius  Gallus,  ap- 
proached the  scene,  and  marched  directly  upon 
Jerusalem  ;  at  Gibeon  there  was  a  battle  in  which 
the  Jews  fought  heroically,  but  could  not  prevent 
Gallus  from  marching  to  Jerusalem,  taking  and 
setting  fire  to  a  part  of  the  city.  Now  the  peace 
party,  which  still  had  numerous  and  influential 
secret  adherents,  wanted  to  surrender  the  city  to 
the  Romans  ;  but  this  plan  was  betrayed,  and  all 
who  had  embraced  it  or  even  known  of  it  were 
thrown  over  the  temple  walls  before  the  very  eyes 
of  the  Eomans.  Cestius  perceived  that  he  could 
accomplish  nothing  with  his  troops  against  the 
city  and  its  desperate  defenders,  and  accordingly 
withdrew.  But  on  the  retreat  he  was  surrounded 
in  the  gorge  of  Beth-horon,  and  suffered  a  disas- 
trous defeat.  Only  by  sacrificing  a  small  force 
did  he  succeed  in  saving  at  least  the  remainder  of 
his  troops,  but  the  rest  of  the  retreat  was  a  wild 
flight :  nearly  all  the  arms  and  all  of  the  engines 


276       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

of  war  belonging  to  the  Romans  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Jews.  The  battle  at  Beth-horon  was 
on  the  8th  of  November,  and  the  continuation 
of  the  war  was  prevented  by  the  approach  of 
winter. 

After  these  occurrences  of  course  all  hope  of  a 
peaceful  settlement  was  gone.  Those  who  still 
did  not  wish  war  left  Jerusalem,  while  in  the  city 
preparations  were  made  with  all  energy  for  the 
impending  crisis.  The  first  requisite  was  seen  to 
be  the  organization  of  the  opposition  ;  accordingly 
commanders  were  appointed  who  were  to  draft 
and  drill  men  in  all  the  provinces,  and  in  short 
make  all  ready  for  war  with  Rome. 

It  is  a  characteristic  fact  that  those  selected 
were  without  exception  members  of  the  nobility 
eligible  to  the  high -priest hood  ;  the  historian 
Josephus  was  one  of  them.  Thus  far  the  move- 
ment has,  in  accordance  with  the  inherent  nature 
of  the  Jewish  people,  an  aristocratic  character ; 
in  Jerusalem  the  high  priest  Ananos  and  a  certain 
Joseph,  son  of  Gorion,  are  at  the  head  of  the  whole. 
It  is  a  tragi-comic  thought  to  imagine  these 
men  who  had  never  in  their  lives  had  a  sword  in 
their  hands,  and  had  done  nothing  but  study  the 
Thora,  now  suddenly  transformed  into  generals 
and  drill- masters  with  the  task  of  creating  an 
army  equal  to  a  contest  with  the  Romans.  More- 
over, a  part  of  them  had  only  half  a  heart  in  the 
matter,  and  very  likely  had  themselves  no  real 
confidence  in  their  success. 


HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        277 

Young  Josephus,  to  whom  was  assigned  the 
most  difficult  territory,  Galilee,  was  confronted 
at  the  very  start  with  fierce  opposition  on  the  part 
of  a  popular  hero,  John  of  Gish-chala,  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  battle  against  Cestus  at  Beth- 
horon.  He  stirred  up  the  people  against  the 
traitor  and  friend  of  the  Romans,  and  would  have 
killed  him  if  Josephus  had  not  managed  to  reach 
a  boat  at  the  right  moment.  In  other  places  there 
were  probably  similar  results,  for  people  could  not 
long  fail  to  recognize  that  the  whole  affair  was  in 
the  most  incompetent  hands  conceivable,  so  patent 
was  the  incompetence. 

The  Eomans  proceeded  very  differently.  The 
command  was  conferred  upon  the  best  general  of 
his  time,  Vespasian,  a  veteran  warrior  and  victor, 
and  sixty  thousand  of  the  best  Roman  troops  put 
at  his  disposal.  Hostilities  were  begun  by  the 
Jews  in  the  year  67  A.  D.  There  was  but  a  weak 
Roman  garrison  in  Ascalon.  The  Jews  attacked 
the  city  twice,  but  were  repelled  with  a  total  loss 
of  eighteen  thousand  men. 

At  this  point  Vespasian  appeared  upon  the 
scene  of  war.  He  clearly  pursued  the  policy  of 
localizing  the  war  in  Jerusalem,  first  subjecting 
the  country  and  then  with  his  whole  force  crush- 
ing the  city.  To  begin  with,  he  marched  into 
Galilee,  where  Josephus  was  in  command.  The 
important  border  fortress,  Sepphoris,  surrendered 
to  the  Romans  without  drawing  a  sword.  Jose- 
phus approached  with  his  forces,  but  at  the  first 


2/8       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

sight  of  the  Romans  they  dispersed  without  ever 
venturing  a  battle. 

Now  there  remained  in  the  province  only  a 
series  of  fortified  cities  and  points  to  be  taken. 
Josephus  himself  had  withdrawn  into  the  fort- 
ress of  Jotapata,  the  defense  of  which  he  nar- 
rates with  complacent  diffuseness  ;  and  in  fact 
Vespasian  required  forty-seven  days  for  its  re- 
duction, while  more  than  forty  thousand  men 
lost  their  lives  in  the  siege.  Josephus  managed 
to  make  his  peace  with  the  Romans,  and  was 
honorably  received  and  well  treated  by  Vespasian, 
whose  future  elevation  to  the  office  of  emperor  he 
claims  to  have  foretold.  At  the  same  time  the 
fortress  of  Japha  fell,  and  fifteen  thousand  men 
lost  their  lives  there.  Some  troops  of  fugitives 
had  established  themselves  in  the  maritime  city 
of  Joppa — they  too  perished  miserably.  Tiberias, 
in  which  the  peace  party  was  strong,  surrendered 
to  the  Romans  and  was  therefore  spared. 

The  real  home  of  the  rebellion  in  Galilee  was 
the  city  of  Tarichsea,  on  the  Sea  of  Genezareth  ; 
against  it  was  sent  Titus,  the  son  of  Vespasian, 
who  took  it  by  a  bold  assault,  by  plunging  into 
the  lake  with  his  cavalry  and  storming  the  city 
from  the  wholly  unprotected  water  side.  Vespa- 
sian now  executed  stern  judgment.  In  the  assault 
six  thousand  and  five  hundred  people  had  perished  ; 
the  old  men  and  invalids  who  no  longer  had  a 
value  as  human  property  he  slew ;  from  the  re- 
mainder he  picked  out  six  thousand  of  the  strong- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        279 

est  and  sent  them  to  Nero  at  Corinth,  where  the 
latter  was  having  a  canal  cut  across  the  isthmus  ; 
all  the  rest,  thirty  thousand  and  four  hundred  in 
number,  were  sold  into  slavery. 

There  now  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews 
only  Gamala,  Gish-chala  and  Mount  Tabor.  Ves- 
pasian first  advanced  against  Gamala.  When 
King  Agrippa  summoned  the  city  to  surrender 
he  was  wounded  by  a  sling,  and  then  the  attack 
began.  The  first  assault  of  the  Romans  was  re- 
pulsed with  such  enormous  loss  that  Vespasian 
had  to  use  his  whole  authority  to  maintain  any 
kind  of  order.  A  regular  siege  was  begun,  and 
a  second  assault  brought  the  city  into  the  power 
of  the  Eomans.  Four  thousand  fell  by  the  swords 
of  the  victors,  more  than  five  thousand  had  cast 
themselves  down  and  been  dashed  to  pieces  on  the 
rocks  below  ;  only  two  women  remained  alive  of 
the  whole  population  of  the  city. 

Mount  Tabor  was  taken  through  the  perjury 
of  the  Roman  commander,  and  Titus  himself  pro- 
ceeded against  Gish-chala.  John,  who  was  in 
command  there,  managed  to  elude  Titus.  He 
slipped  through  the  Roman  lines  in  the  night 
with  his  forces  and  hastened  to  Jerusalem,  while 
the  city  itself  surrendered  the  following  day. 
Thus  all  Galilee  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Romans 
at  the  close  of  the  autumn  of  the  year  67  A.  D. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  these  defeats 
stirred  passions  to  the  highest  pitch.  They  were 
rightly  ascribed  to  the  wholly  incompetent  exist- 


280       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

ing  leadership,  which  was  in  no  respect  equal  to 
its  task.  John  of  Gish-chala,  especially,  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  war  in  Galilee,  could  not  say 
enough  of  the  shameful  treason  of  the  leaders. 
By  degrees  all  those  who  had  been  fighting  and 
murdering  during  the  summer  had  gathered  in 
Jerusalem,  and  now  they  could  undertake  to  over- 
throw the  party  of  the  alleged  traitors  and  friends 
of  Rome,  and  bring  the  Zealots  to  the  helm. 

First  a  few  of  the  foremost  men  were  impris- 
oned and  assassinated.  In  order  to  gain  some 
sort  of  moral  support  the  Zealots  appointed  a  new 
high  priest,  an  obscure  and  uneducated  person 
named  Phannias,  chosen  by  lot, — he  was  to  be  the 
last  to  wear  the  sacred  garment  in  Jerusalem. 
At  this  point  two  former  high  priests,  Ananos  and 
Jesus,  placed  themselves  at  the  head  of  the  con- 
servative portion  of  the  people  and  roused  them 
to  energetic  measures  against  the  Zealots  ;  once 
more  actual  civil  war  raged  in  Jerusalem  until  the 
party  of  order  succeeded  in  getting  into  the 
temple.  The  Zealots  would  have  been  irretriev- 
ably lost  if  Ananos  had  not  hesitated  to  desecrate 
the  temple  by  battle  and  bloodshed  ;  he  contented 
himself  with  isolating  the  Zealots  in  the  temple. 
Thereupon  they  called  for  help  from  without. 
The  wild,  marauding,  semi- Jewish  Idurneans 
were  always  ready  for  plunder  and  murder  : 
twenty  thousand  reckless  fellows  responded  to  the 
call  of  the  Zealots,  whose  request  had  been  wrap- 
ped in  the  cloak  of  patriotism,  alleging  that 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.   28 1 

Ananos  and  his  party  intended  to  deliver  the  city 
to  the  Romans.  These  Idumeans  marched  to  Je- 
rusalem, where  of  course  the  gates  were  shut 
against  them.  But  in  the  night  a  storm  arose, 
under  the  protection  of  which  the  Zealots  suc- 
ceeded in  opening  the  gates  to  their  allies  ;  the  ris- 
ing sun  looked  upon  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
murdered  victims. 

Now  they  began  to  make  a  clean  sweep  of  the 
traitors.  The  naked  bodies  of  the  two  high  priests, 
Ananos  and  Jesus,  were  thrown  into  the  street 
horribly  mutilated,  and  within  a  few  days  twelve 
thousand  men  of  the  party  of  order  were  executed 
amid  terrible  tortures.  Even  the  comedy  of  a 
court  was  introduced.  Once  when  this  court  ven- 
tured to  acquit  an  especially  venerated  and  re- 
spected man,  two  Zealots  rushed  upon  him  and 
thrust  their  daggers  into  his  breast  with  the 
words  :  "  Here  hast  thou  our  vote  also." 

But  now  it  was  growing  too  bad  for  even  the 
Idumeans,  who  must  have  perceived  for  some 
time  that  the  Zealots  were  merely  cheating  them 
and  using  them  for  their  own  lawless  purposes  ; 
they  released  two  thousand  persons  who  had  been 
imprisoned  for  execution,  and  left  Jerusalem, 
where  John  of  Gish-chala  then  instituted  an  unre- 
stricted reign  of  terror ;  soon,  as  Josephus  relates, 
all  the  respectable  people  in  Jerusalem  had  fallen 
victims  to — I  had  almost  said,  the  guillotine  ;  only 
those  escaped  death  whom  humble  birth  or  poverty 
made  already  humble  enough.  The  Zealots  went 


282        HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

so  far  as  to  forbid,  on  penalty  of  death,  the  burial 
of  the  bodies  of  those  executed,  which  were  left 
to  rot  in  the  sun.  The  Sicarii  who  occupied 
Masada  carried  on  from  that  point  marauding 
incursions  throughout  all  Southern  Judea,  where 
they  had  their  terrible  will,  pillaging  and  mur- 
dering whole  villages  and  towns. 

All  this  was  known  in  the  Roman  headquar- 
ters, and  the  officers  advised  Vespasian  to  march 
forthwith  upon  Jerusalem  and  capture  the  city, 
which  was  wasting  away  in  civil  strife.  But  Ves- 
pasian considered  it  more  profitable  to  let  the  Jews 
destroy  one  another,  and  calmly  continued  his 
methodical  warfare.  In  the  spring  of  68  A.  D. 
he  began  by  subduing  the  whole  country  east  of 
the  Jordan  excepting  the  fortress  of  Machserus, 
where  a  generation  before  had  fallen  the  head  of 
John  the  Baptist,  and  then  the  South  and  West. 
He  was  just  preparing  for  a  decisive  blow  against 
Jerusalem  when  the  news  arrived  of  the  death  of 
Nero  and  the  elevation  of  Galba.  Vespasian  sent 
his  son  Titus  to  the  new  emperor  to  receive  his 
orders  ;  but  on  the  way  Titus  learned  of  the  death 
of  Galba  also,  and  accordingly  returned  to  his 
father.  A  whole  year  the  Roman  arms  rested,  but 
the  unhappy  people  was  destined  to  have  no  repose. 

A  certain  Simon  bar  Giora  succeeded  in  rising 
to  power  and  authority  among  the  Sicarii  in 
Masada.  Soon  this  fortress  was  too  small  for  his 
ambition  and  he  gathered  great  troops  about  him, 
whose  number  increased  in  a  short  time  to  twenty 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.       283 

thousand  men.  The  people  of  Jerusalem  regarded 
this  as  a  menace,  and  a  battle  resulted  between 
Simon  and  John,  in  which  the  latter  was  defeated  ; 
but  Simon  felt  too  weak  to  assail  Jerusalem  and 
turned  his  attack  upon  Idumea.  Soon  his  host 
had  increased  to  forty  thousand,  who  of  course 
had  to  live,  and  accordingly  wasted  and  pillaged 
the  whole  land  unmercifully.  At  this  point  the 
Zealots  by  a  treacherous  attack  succeeded  in 
capturing  Simon's  wife  and  taking  her  to  Jeru- 
salem. Now  Simon  again  marched  to  Jerusalem, 
killed  with  the  most  terrible  tortures  all  whom 
he  could  seize,  or  sent  them  back  to  Jerusalem 
minus  their  hands,  until  finally  they  returned  his 
wife  to  him. 

Meantime  in  Jerusalem  all  the  bonds  of  decency 
and  order  were  loosed.  The  savage  soldiery  of 
John  had  complete  control  of  the  city,  and  soon 
ceased  to  obey  John ;  they  were  no  longer  content 
with  plunder  and  murder,  but  gave  themselves 
up  to  the  most  shocking  excesses.  This  prompted 
the  desperate  suggestion  of  driving  out  the  devil 
by  Beelzebub ;  a  solemn  deputation  besought 
Simon  bar  Giora  to  free  the  city  from  the  tyrant 
and  in  April,  69,  A.  D.  he  entered  the  city,  greeted 
with  loud  acclaim.  John  was  shut  up  in  the 
temple,  but  the  attempt  to  take  it  was  unsuccess- 
ful. Simon  established  himself  in  the  city,  and 
now  Jerusalem  had  two  tyrants  instead  of  one, 
for  Simon's  sway  was  no  less  atrocious  than  that 
of  John. 


284       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

In  June,  69,  A.  D.,  Vespasian  resumed  his 
activity  and  completed  the  conquest  of  the  South  ; 
only  Jerusalem,  Herodeion,  Masada,  and  Machae- 
rus,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews.  But 
now  the  legions  proclaimed  their  commander 
emperor.  Of  course  this  was  a  more  important 
matter  for  Vespasian  than  the  war  in  Judea  ; 
therefore  he  turned  this  over  to  his  son  Titus  and 
set  out  for  Rome  by  the  way  of  Alexandria ; 
Josephus,  his  prophecy  having  been  thus  fulfilled, 
was  released  from  his  chains,  and,  together  with 
Tiberius  Alexander,  the  sole  remaining  Jewish 
procurator,  he  was  the  chief  adviser  of  Titus  at 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem. 

Meantime  in  Jerusalem  the  mutual  destruction 
and  anarchy  had  progressed.  Even  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Zealots  the  dissatisfaction  with  the  tyran- 
nical and  cruel  rule  of  John  was  growing  strong. 
A  certain  Eleazar,  son  of  Simon,  who  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  war  had  won  distinction  by  the 
great  victory  over  Cestius  Gallus  at  Beth-horon, 
but  had  since  been  pushed  aside  by  the  patrician 
party  and  entrusted  with  no  office,  now  made  use 
of  this  dissatisfaction.  He  formed  a  new  faction 
among  the  Zealots  which  made  fierce  war  upon 
John,  and  finally  got  possession  of  the  temple  it- 
self. Thus  there  were  now  three  camps  in  the 
wretched  city  :  Simon  held  the  city,  John  the 
mount  of  the  temple,  and  Eleazar  the  temple  it- 
self, so  that  John  was  now  beset  from  two  sides. 
In  the  course  of  this  constant  civil  war  all  the 


HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL.        285 

immense  stores  of  grain  within  the  city  went  up 
in  smoke.  In  the  language  of  Josephus,  these 
three  were  united  only  in  murdering  those  who 
deserved  to  live  longer,  and  they  outdid  them- 
selves in  the  torture  and  cruel  execution  of  their 
enemies. 

Finally,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  70,  Titus 
marched  upon  Jerusalem,  arriving  shortly  before 
the  Paschal  celebration.  As  Titus,  with  six  hun- 
dred horsemen,was  making  a  reconnaissance  about 
Jerusalem,  he  came  very  near  being  captured  and 
his  troop  just  escaped  annihilation;  with  a  few  sup- 
porters left  he  managed  to  cut  his  way  through. 
The  next  day  they  began  to  make  camp,  the  tenth 
legion  occupying  the  Mount  of  Olives.  But  as  they 
were  going  at  the  work  the  Jews  made  a  sortie  in 
force,  which  was  executed  with  such  daring  spirit 
that  the  legion  dashed  up  the  Mount  in  wild  flight  : 
only  by  the  personal  action  of  Titus  was  it  possible 
to  check  them  and  save  the  honor  of  the  day. 

But  not  even  yet  did  the  civil  war  within  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  cease.  Eleazar  had  opened 
the  temple  to  worshipers  :  those  who  wished  to 
offer  sacrifice  were  admitted  after  close  inspection 
by  Eleazar's  guards.  On  account  of  the  great 
number  of  pilgrims  at  the  feast  of  Pascha  this 
inspection  could  not  of  course  be  thorough  :  John 
took  advantage  of  this  fact  and  had  the  most 
daring  of  his  followers  slip  into  the  temple  ;  here 
they  attacked  Eleazar,  and  finally,  with  the  shed- 
ding of  streams  of  blood,  captured  the  temple. 


286       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

Now  once  more  there  were  but  two  parties  in 
Jerusalem,  and  John  was  in  control  of  the  entire 
temple.  Josephus  reports  the  number  of  able- 
bodied  defenders  of  Jerusalem  at  twenty-three 
thousand  four  hundred  all  told. 

Now  Titus  moved  his  lines  nearer  to  the  city, 
and  was  again  met  with  a  sortie  which  caused  his 
troops  to  waver  and  led  to  a  retreat.  Every  pros- 
pect of  taking  Jerusalem  by  storm  being  thus  ex- 
cluded, a  systematic  siege  was  begun  on  the  23rd 
of  April ;  soon  the  engines  were  constructed  and 
the  battering-ram  began  its  dismal  activity  against 
the  outer  walls.  Only  now,  amid  the  dull  thuds  of 
the  battering-ram,  did  internecine  war  cease,  and 
Simon  and  John  joined  forces  to  combat  the  enemy 
from  without.  The  first  united  sortie  was  made 
with  such  violence  that  they  succeeded  in  setting 
fire  to  the  Roman  works  ;  the  entire  destruction 
of  the  badly  damaged  works  was  prevented  only 
by  the  personal  participation  of  Titus,  who  with 
his  own  hands  shot  down  twelve  Jews.  The  one 
Jew  who  was  taken  alive  was  crucified  in  sight 
of  the  walls. 

On  the  Tth  of  May  the  Romans  had  effected  a 
breach  in  the  outer  wall,  the  Jews  withdrew  be- 
hind the  second,  and  the  Romans  were  masters  of 
the  New  City.  Five  days  later,  on  the  12th  of 
May,  the  second  wall  also  was  stormed,  and  Titus 
was  one  of  the  first  to  force  an  entrance  ;  but  now 
there  arose  such  a  desperate  hand-to-hand  strug- 
gle that  the  Romans  were  finally  forced  out.  For 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       287 

four  days  the  Jewish  defenders  covered  the  breach 
with  their  bodies,  when  their  resistance  weakened, 
and  the  Romans  again  entered  on  the  16th  of  May, 
and  now  held  their  own  in  the  suburb  and  razed 
the  second  wall. 

Already  the  defenders  were  short  of  provisions 
and  people  were  dying  of  hunger  in  Jerusalem, 
but  no  one  thought  of  surrender ;  the  resistance 
only  became  the  more  stubborn  and  desperate. 
Once  more  Titus  tried  peaceful  measures.  The 
troops  were  about  to  be  paid,  and  Titus  com- 
manded them  all  to  appear  in  parade  uniform  at 
a  point  visible  from  the  city.  In  fact  all  Jerusa- 
lem hastened  to  the  roofs  and  walls  to  enjoy  the 
rare  military  spectacle.  But  if  Titus  had  ex- 
pected thus  to  intimidate  the  besieged  he  had 
miscalculated.  When  Josephus  was  sent  out  to 
summon  them  to  surrender  he  was  met  with  abuse 
and  missiles. 

In  the  city,  meantime,  famine  was  increasing. 
In  order  to  provision  the  troops,  soldiers  were  sent 
into  the  houses  to  search  for  food  ;  where  they 
brought  nothing  to  light,  the  unhappy  occupants 
were  put  to  terrible  tortures  in  order,  by  inde- 
scribably exquisite  torment,  to  force  from  them  a 
confession  of  their  hidden  stores.  Driven  to  des- 
peration by  this,  the  people  sought  the  mercy  of 
the  Romans.  They  stole  out  of  the  city ;  but  Titus 
had  all  the  deserters,  as  many  as  five  hundred  in 
one  day,  crucified  after  inhuman  tortures,  and 
when,  as  Josephus  says,  crosses  enough  could  not 


288       HISTORY   OF   THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

be  obtained,  he  cut  off  their  hands  and  drove  them 
back  into  the  city,  where  Simon  and  John  were 
competing  in  the  work  of  hunting  down  traitors 
and  friends  of  the  Romans  in  order  to  reduce  the 
number  of  superfluous  mouths  to  be  fed. 

On  the  29th  of  May  the  Romans  had  moved  four 
ramparts  up  against  the  inner  wall.  John  suc- 
ceeded in  destroying  two  of  these  by  digging 
mines  beneath,  supported  by  timbers,  and  then 
burning  the  timbers  ;  the  other  two  were  burned 
by  Simon  two  days  later.  Thus  the  laborious 
achievement  of  weeks  was  undone,  and  matters 
were  just  where  they  had  been  before.  Now  the 
Romans  held  a  council  of  war,  the  conclusion  of 
which  was  that,  the  engines  being  destroyed, 
famine  should  be  left  to  complete  the  work  of  de- 
struction. Titus  had  a  wall  with  thirteen  watch- 
towers  built  around  the  entire  city,  thus  to  make 
a  complete  blockade :  the  Romans  are  reported  to 
have  built  this  wall  of  more  than  three  miles  in 
length  in  three  days. 

I  pass  over  the  scenes  of  horror  that  follow  : 
suffice  it  to  say  that,  according  to  the  declaration 
of  a  captive  taken  by  the  Romans,  whose  business 
it  was  to  count  the  dead  in  order  to  pay  from  the 
public  treasury  the  burial  fee,  there  were  carried 
out  through  one  gate  under  his  charge  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty 
corpses,  in  the  period  from  April  14  to  July  1, 
that  is,  in  two  and  a  half  months.  Unfortunately 
the  beginning  of  the  siege  had  fallen  in  the  Pas- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.       289 

chal  week,  so  that  all  the  pilgrims  from  without 
were  shut  up  in  the  city. 

Now  Titus's  humanity  was  touched,  and  he  per- 
mitted the  Romans  to  receive  fugitives ;  the 
starved  wretches  were  even  cared  for — to  be  sold 
afterwards  as  slaves,  of  course.  But  it  came  to 
light  that  one  of  these  unfortunates  had  swal- 
lowed a  few  gold  pieces,  his  last  possession,  and 
from  that  time  on  the  Syrian  and  Arabian  troops 
ripped  open  the  bodies  of  the  fugitives  and  tore 
out  their  bowels  in  order  to  hunt  for  gold.  In 
this  brutal  fashion  two  thousand  were  slaughtered 
in  one  night.  Titus  learned  of  the  monstrous 
deed,  but  could  not  punish  it,  because  there  were 
too  many  implicated  in  it ;  despite  his  severest 
prohibition  the  abominable  performance  was  con- 
tinued, only  more  secretly  and  more  cautiously — 
and  so  at  last  it  seemed  preferable  to  starve  in 
Jerusalem  than  to  perish  thus. 

Now  Titus  undertook  to  restore  the  ramparts 
that  had  been  destroyed.  The  whole  region  for 
ten  miles  around  was  stripped  of  timber,  and  after 
untold  labor  the  ramparts  were  completed  at  the 
expiration  of  twenty-one  days.  This  time  every- 
thing was  hazarded.  If  these  structures  were 
destroyed  the  Romans  could  not  renew  them  be- 
cause of  the  entire  lack  of  timber  ;  on  the  other 
hand  the  city  was  lost  if  it  did  not  succeed  in  de- 
stroying them.  On  the  1st  of  July  the  Jews  made 
a  desperate  sortie  under  John  ;  but  the  Romans 
had  learned  wisdom  from  the  previous  sorties, 
19 


290   HISTORY  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL. 

while  as  a  matter  of  course  the  strength  of  the 
Jews,  who  were  emaciated  by  famine,  was  less. 
The  sortie  was  repulsed  and  in  the  following  night 
the  inner  wall  fell  under  the  blows  of  the  batter- 
ing-ram ;  but  to  their  astonishment  and  dismay 
the  Romans  found  back  of  this  a  new  one ;  John 
had  anticipated  the  case  and  made  his  arrange- 
ments accordingly.  After  repeated  failures  this 
new  temporary  wall  was  scaled  on  the  5th  of  July, 
and  the  Romans  poured  in.  In  the  confusion 
Titus  undertook  to  storm  the  temple  forthwith, 
but  met  there  such  desperate  resistance  that  he 
retreated  ;  however,  the  Lower  City  remained  in 
his  possession,  and  he  proceeded  to  raze  the  last 
wall  and  prepare  for  a  regular  assault  upon  the 
temple.  Wood  had  to  be  fetched  from  twelve 
miles  away,  but  the  Romans,  despite  all  obstacles, 
pushed  their  work  persistently  and  once  more  the 
ramparts  rose  from  the  earth. 

On  the  17th  of  July  the  daily  morning  and  even- 
ing sacrifice  in  the  temple  was  finally  suspended. 
We  are  filled  with  a  feeling  of  shuddering  admira- 
tion when  we  read  this  report.  For  three  months 
the  most  terrible  famine  had  prevailed  ;  thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  had  succumbed  to  it, 
and  yet  day  after  day  they  burned  upon  the  altar 
the  sacrificial  animals  prescribed  by  the  law,  and 
only  a  short  time  before  had  John  ventured  to 
touch  the  stores  of  sacred  wine  and  sacred  oil  and 
distribute  them  among  the  starving  people. 

Meanwhile,   Titus    having    once    more    made 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        29! 

through  Josephus  a  fruitless  demand  for  sur- 
render, fighting  had  been  going  on  all  the  while 
about  the  temple  and  with  incomparable  bravery 
on  both  sides.  Once  more,  on  the  27th  of  July, 
the  Jews  were  able  to  inflict  heavy  losses  on  the 
Romans.  They  filled  the  west  porch  of  the  temple 
with  combustibles  and  lured  the  Eomans  thither 
by  a  sham  retreat ;  then  it  was  fired,  and  the 
whole  force  of  Roman  soldiers  perished  miserably 
in  the  flames  before  the  very  eyes  of  their  com- 
rades, who  were  unable  to  succor  them. 

On  the  8th  of  August  the  ramparts  were  at  last 
finished  and  the  battering-ram  began  to  operate  ; 
but  it  was  ineffective  against  the  massive  foun- 
dations of  the  temple.  The  scaling-ladders  were 
run  up  for  an  assault,  but  in  this  attempt  the 
Romans  even  lost  several  standards  without  ac- 
complishing anything.  Then  another  method 
was  tried.  Next  day  the  Romans  set  fire  to  the 
gates.  Titus  had  the  fire  put  out  in  the  night 
and  the  final  assault  was  to  be  made  on  the 
10th  of  August. 

Titus  had  given  strict  orders  to  spare  the  tem- 
ple, but  after  the  Jews  had  twice  in  succession 
made  desperate  attacks  upon  the  assailants  the 
Romans  lost  patience.  To  hasten  matters  a  sol- 
dier hurled  a  torch  through  an  open  window  into 
the  temple  building  proper,  which  straightway 
burst  forth  in  flames.  Titus  galloped  up  to  check 
the  work  of  destruction,  but  even  the  iron  disci- 
pline of  the  Romans  weakened  in  the  fire  of  pas- 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL. 

sions  roused  to  madness.  There  was  no  stopping 
them.  More  and  more  torches  and  firebrands 
flew  into  the  temple,  within  whose  walls  Romans 
and  Jews  were  fighting  for  life  breast  to  breast 
in  inextricable  confusion.  With  the  crackling  of 
the  darting  flames  and  the  crash  of  falling  tim- 
bers were  mingled  the  heartrending  screams  of 
the  dying  and  the  triumphant  yells  of  the  victori- 
ous Romans. 

Titus  had  barely  time  to  secure  the  sacred  ves- 
sels of  the  temple  and  to  enter  the  Holy  of  Holies  ; 
then  the  temple  of  the  God  of  Israel  went  down 
never  to  rise  again.  Upon  its  smoking  ruins 
the  legions  hailed  the  son  of  their  emperor  as 
"  imperator  "  and  offered  a  sacrifice  to  the  Roman 
Jupiter.  Then  fire  and  murder  continued  their 
sway.  The  conflagration  became  general,  neither 
age  nor  sex  was  spared.  The  priests  had  suc- 
ceeded in  hiding  themselves ;  on  the  fifth  day, 
driven  by  hunger,  they  came  forth  and  begged 
for  their  lives,  but  Titus  replied:  "It  is  fitting 
for  priests  to  perish  with  their  temple,"  and  had 
them  beheaded. 

But  not  even  yet  was  Jerusalem  subdued. 
Simon  still  held  the  Upper  City,  and  John  too 
had  been  able  to  make  his  way  thither  with  the 
remnants  of  his  troops.  They  asked  for  a  con- 
ference, and  Titus  consented.  He  with  his  troops 
was  on  the  east  side  of  the  Tyropoon  valley, 
Simon  and  John,  surrounded  by  the  Jews,  on  the 
west  side.  They  said  they  had  sworn  never  to 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.       293 

surrender  to  the  Romans,  and  begged  therefore 
for  permission  to  withdraw,  promising  to  leave 
the  country.  Titus  felt  unable  to  permit  this,  and 
now  the  formal  siege  of  the  Upper  City  began. 

Not  even  now  were  passions  subdued.  Simon 
and  John  still  fought  each  other,  and  suspected 
Eoman  sympathizers  and  traitors  were  still  being 
killed.  Josephus  gives  the  number  of  such  at 
eight  thousand  four  hundred.  With  incalculable 
labor  and  difficulty  the  Komans  began  on  the  20th 
of  August  the  erection  of  ramparts  against  the 
Upper  City  ;  on  the  Yth  of  September  they  were 
completed  and  the  engines  were  moved  up  ;  the 
worn-out  defenders  were  no  longer  able  to  offer  re- 
sistance, and  with  a  rush  the  walls  were  scaled. 
The  Eomans,  grown  suspicious,  feared  a  ruse ; 
but  they  were  soon  convinced  that  all  that  were 
left  in  the  city  were  dead  or  nearly  so.  Simon 
and  John,  with  their  last  troops,  had  hidden  in 
subterranean  passages  ;  Jerusalem  was  finally 
and  completely  conquered.  Everywhere  fire  was 
set,  the  houses  having  first  been  plundered  and 
the  occupants  murdered  :  on  the  8th  of  September 
the  rising  sun  shone  down  upon  what  was  no 
longer  a  city — the  smoldering  ruins  of  Jeru- 
salem. Only  three  towers  were  left  standing  as 
memorials  of  the  prowess  of  the  Romans  in  the 
conquest,  together  with  a  part  of  the  wall  to 
shelter  the  garrison  that  was  left  to  guard  the 
ruins.  Aside  from  this  the  city  was  so  nearly 
leveled  to  the  ground  that,  as  Josephus  said,  no 


294       HISTORY  OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

one  who  visited  the  place  would  have  believed 
that  a  city  ever  stood  there. 

Driven  by  hunger,  John  came  forth  from  his 
hiding  place  and  begged  for  mercy  ;  Titus  put 
him  into  heavy  chains  and  let  him  live.  In  Rome 
he  perished  forsaken,  in  prison.  Simon  tried  to 
escape  by  an  underground  passage,  but  failing  in 
this  he  suddenly  appeared  in  a  white  garment 
with  a  purple  cloak  on  the  spot  where  the  temple 
had  stood,  rising  out  of  the  earth  like  a  specter. 
But  the  Roman  guards  seized  him  ;  confessing  his 
identity,  he  also  was  cast  into  chains. 

The  total  number  of  those  who  perished  in  the 
siege  and  capture  of  Jerusalem  is  estimated  by 
Josephus  at  one  million  one  hundred  thousand 
persons  ;  ninety-seven  thousand  were  taken  cap- 
tive by  the  Romans.  Of  these  seven  hundred  of 
the  finest  and  strongest  were  selected  to  grace  the 
triumphal  procession  of  Titus.  The  old  and  the 
weak,  who  could  not  be  used,  the  Romans  had 
butchered  in  cold  blood  ;  those  over  seventeen 
years  of  age  were  part  of  them  sent  into  the 
Egyptian  mines,  part  of  them  forced  to  appear  in 
battle  with  wild  beasts  and  be  torn  to  pieces  by 
them,  or  to  fight  as  gladiators  with  one  another 
to  delight  the  eyes  of  the  heathen  populace.  In 
Csesarea  Philippi  alone,  at  the  celebration  of  the 
birthday  of  Domitian,  more  than  two  thousand 
five  hundred  Jews  shed  their  blood  in  the  arena. 
The  males  under  seventeen  years  of  age  and  the 
women  were  sold  directly  into  slavery.  Titus, 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        295 

with  all  his  prisoners  and  all  his  booty,  marched 
to  Eome,  where  he  had  a  brilliant  triumph  in  the 
year  71,  A.  D. ;  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  temple 
wej-e  carried  before  the  "  imperator"  and  Simon 
and  John,  for  the  first  time  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
were  obliged  to  march  before  the  chariot  of  the 
victor  with  the  seven  hundred  chosen  captives. 
Simon,  being  the  real  leader,  was  first  scourged 
and  then  throttled  at  the  stake,  in  accordance 
with  Roman  custom  ;  John  finished  his  career  in 
prison. 

But  although  Titus  had  thus  celebrated  his 
triumph,  Judea  was  not  yet  wholly  subdued.  The 
three  fortresses  Herodeion,  Machserus,  and  Masa- 
da,  still  stood  unconquered,  held  by  all  that  were 
left  of  the  rebels.  The  legate,  Lucilius  Bassus, 
was  commissioned  to  complete  the  pacification  of 
the  country.  Herodeion  seems  to  have  surrendered 
immediately,  but  Machaerus,  trusting  to  its  ex- 
ceptionally strong  position,  took  the  risk  of  a 
siege.  Both  sides  fought  with  the  greatest  bravery 
and  desperation,  a  certain  noble  youth  named 
Eleazar  distinguishing  himself  particularly  among 
the  Jews  ;  but  in  a  sortie  he  advanced  too  far  and 
was  captured  by  the  Romans.  Bassus  had  him 
scourged  in  sight  of  the  besieged  and  erected  a 
cross  as  though  to  crucify  him  ;  at  this  the  gar- 
rison promised  to  surrender  the  fortress  in  return 
for  the  liberty  of  Eleazar  and  free  retreat  for 
themselves.  Of  course  Bassus  accepted  these 
terms  and  actually  kept  them,  but  the  inhabitants 


296       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

of  the  city  were  partly  slaughtered  and  partly  sold 
into  slavery.  The  retiring  garrison  united  with 
various  stragglers  who  had  succeeded  in  escaping 
from  the  underground  passages  of  Jerusalem  and 
found  a  hiding-place  in  the  forests  east  of  the 
Jordan  ;  Bassus  had  the  whole  region  surrounded 
by  cavalry  and  then  cut  down  the  forests,  so  that 
every  man  of  them  perished,  three  thousand  in 
number. 

Now  only  Masada  was  left.  Here  Eleazar  was 
in  command,  a  descendant  of  Judas  the  Galilean 
and  a  near  kinsman  of  that  Menahem  who  had 
fought  in  Jerusalem  as  leader  of  the  Sicarii. 
Eleazar  too  had  fought  under  his  banner,  but 
when  disaster  befell  Menahem  he  had  been  able 
to  escape  from  Jerusalem  and  take  refuge  in 
Masada.  By  its  location  the  place  was  almost 
impregnable.  Flavius  Silva,  now  commanding 
in  place  of  Lucilius  Bassus,  who  had  died  mean- 
while, had  a  wall  built  about  the  whole  place  to 
make  the  escape  of  the  garrison  impossible  ;  then 
with  tremendous  exertion  he  built  a  rampart  at 
the  only  vulnerable  spot,  and  thereupon  had  the 
engines  approach  the  walls.  They  succeeded  in 
destroying  the  wall  ;  but  behind  it  Eleazar  had 
constructed  a  new  one  of  wood  and  earth,  against 
which  the  battering-ram  was  powerless.  Accord- 
ingly they  tried  fire  against  the  new  wall,  and  the 
whole  wooden  structure  went  up  in  flames.  This 
sealed  the  fate  of  Masada.  The  assault  was 
planned  for  the  next  day,  and  the  watchfulness 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL.        297 

of  the  guards  was  doubled  in  the  intervening  night 
in  order  that  no  victim  might  escape.  That 
night, — it  was  the  night  of  Pascha — Eleazar  took 
a  desperate  resolution.  Nobody  should  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  Eomans  ;  all  preferred  death  to 
captivity.  Ten  were  selected  by  lot  who  were  to 
kill  all  the  others,  and  of  these  ten  one,  who  in 
turn  should  first  kill  the  other  nine  and  finally 
himself.  The  horrible  plan  was  actually  carried 
out.  The  sole  survivor  went  about  once  more  to 
all  the  corpses  to  make  sure  that  no  life  was  left. 
When  he  was  convinced  of  this  he  hurled  the 
torch  into  the  house  and  thrust  his  sword  into  his 
own  breast.  Only  an  old  woman  and  a  mother 
with  five  children  had  hidden  themselves  in  an 
aqueduct.  Nine  hundred  and  sixty  corpses  cov- 
ered the  ground  which  they  could  no  longer  de- 
fend. 

The  next  morning  when  the  Romans  advanced 
they  were  met  with  a  deathlike  silence  ;  they  sus- 
pected a  ruse  and  raised  a  loud  battle-cry.  Then 
the  seven  survivors  came  forth  and  told  the  Ro- 
mans what  had  happened.  On  the  15th  of  Nisan, 
i.  e.,  of  April,  in  the  year  73  A.  D.,  the  first  day 
of  the  Easter  festival,  the  same  day  on  which,  ac- 
cording to  tradition,  the  God  of  Israel  had  led  his 
people  out  of  Egyptian  bondage  into  freedom,  the 
last  bulwark  of  Israel's  liberty  had  fallen,  and  Is- 
rael was  delivered  into  Roman  bondage.  Fifty 
years  later,  indeed,  it  made  once  more  an  attempt 
to  conquer  its  freedom  from  Rome  with  the  sword, 


298       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

but  God  had  decreed  otherwise  :  this  attempt  led 
only  to  more  wretched  slavery.  Israel  as  a  people, 
as  a  nation,  was  dead,  and  was  destined  to  remain 
dead. 

Rome  was  rude  and  heartless  in  letting  the  con- 
quered nation  feel  the  vce  victis.  Innumerable 
are  the  medals  and  memorial  coins  of  the  three 
Flavian  emperors  :  Vespasian,  Titus,  and  Domi- 
tian,  on  the  obverse  of  which  appears  beneath  a 
palm-tree  a  woman  sitting  on  the  ground  in 
inconsolable  grief,  with  the  legend,  "  Conquered 
Judea."  The  whole  country  became  a  Roman 
province,  and  the  soil  was  declared  the  personal 
property  of  the  emperor  ;  perhaps  no  provision 
seemed  to  the  Jews  so  much  like  bitter  mockery 
as  this,  that  they  were  now  compelled  to  pay  to 
the  imperial  treasury  and  deliver  upon  the  Capitol 
the  tithes  which  formerly,  in  accordance  with  the 
law,  they  had  paid  annually  to  the  temple ;  the 
Capitoline  Jupiter  was  to  take  the  place  of  the 
God  of  Israel.  As  a  picture  which  touches  the 
depths  of  the  heart,  I  quote  a  passage  from  a 
Jewish  writing  composed  under  the  fresh  im- 
pression of  these  awful  blows  of  fate  : 

"  Well  for  him  that  is  unborn,  or  if  born,  has 
died.  But  woe  to  us  who  live,  that  we  must  see 
the  afflictions  of  Judah  and  the  fate  of  Jerusalem. 
Arise  and  prepare  to  lament,  begin  to  mourn  with 
me  and  lament  along  with  me.  Ye  husbandmen, 
scatter  seed  no  more,  and  thou  earth,  why  givest 
thou  thy  fruit  ?  Keep  back  the  sweetness  of  thy 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        299 

nourishment.  Thou  grape,  why  givest  thou  still 
thy  wine  when  it  shall  no  longer  be  offered  in 
Zion  and  no  firstlings  be  sacrificed  ?  And  thou 
heaven,  withhold  thy  dew,  neither  open  the  store- 
houses of  the  rain.  And  thou  sun,  hold  back  thy 
shining  light,  and  thou  moon,  quench  thy  clear 
beams ;  for  to  what  end  shall  any  longer  lights 
arise  after  the  light  of  Zion  is  sunken  in  darkness  ? 
And  ye  young  men,  go  not  into  the  bridal-cham- 
ber, and  ye  virgins,  deck  not  yourselves  with 
bridal  wreaths,  and  ye  wives  pray  not  to  become 
mothers  ;  for  the  barren  shall  rejoice,  and  those 
who  have  no  children  be  glad  ;  and  those  who 
have  children  shall  lament.  For  wherefore  shall 
they  bring  forth  with  pain  and  bury  with  groans  ? 
Wherefore  shall  they  have  sons  henceforth,  and 
their  names  be  kept  alive,  when  the  mother  of  all 
is  desolate  and  her  children  dragged  into  bond- 
age ?  Therefore  speak  no  more  of  ornaments, 
neither  think  how  ye  shall  deck  yourselves.  But 
ye  priests,  take  the  keys  of  the  sanctuary  and 
cast  them  up  to  heaven,  giving  them  back  to  God, 
and  say  :  Do  Thou  guard  Thy  house,  we  could  not 
do  it !  And  ye  maidens  who  weave  byssus  and 
silk  with  the  gold  of  Ophir,  take  it  all  swiftly  and 
cast  it  into  the  fire,  that  the  fire  may  give  it  back 
to  Him  that  made  it,  and  the  enemy  obtain  it  not. 
Our  fathers  rest  without  griefs,  and  the  righteous 
slumber  in  the  earth  in  peace  :  for  they  know 
nothing  of  this  distress  and  have  not  heard  of  the 
fate  that  is  come  upon  us.  0  that  thou  haddest 


300       HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF  ISRAEL. 

ears,  thou  earth,  and  thou  a  mouth,  thou  dust,  to 
go  and  proclaim  it  in  the  under  world  and  say  to 
the  dead  :  Blessed  are  ye  above  us  who  still  live." 

Our  eyes  fill  with  tears  as  we  see  the  curtain  go 
down  upon  all  this  misery  and  woe.  The  tragedy 
is  over.  We  are  at  the  end  of  the  History  of 
Israel.  Dreadful  as  this  end  has  been,  we  cannot 
refuse  our  admiration.  The  Jewish  people  fell 
like  a  man  and  a  hero,  and  even  in  its  fall  it 
triumphed  over  the  victor.  All-powerful  Rome 
could  destroy  Israel  but  not  pervert  it.  Israel 
did  not  give  way  to  Rome  to  the  extent  of  even  a 
single  thought ;  it  remained  what  it  was,  and 
all  its  misfortunes  served  only  to  confirm  and 
strengthen  it  in  its  essential  character.  While 
Rome  has  long  since  passed  away,  and  only  ruins 
tell  us  of  its  glory,  Israel  is  still,  after  two  thou- 
sand years,  what  it  was.  It  has  survived  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  history,  all  the  changes  of  ages, 
ever  consistent,  comparable  in  the  life  of  nations 
to  one  of  those  erratic  boulders,  which  wear  out 
the  tooth  of  time  and  mock  at  eternity,  a  strange 
yet  imposing  spectacle,  a  living  witness  of  long- 
vanished  millenniums. 

Indeed,  in  a  certain  sense  we  may  say  that 
Israel  has  become  the  heir  of  Rome.  To  this  day 
there  stands  in  Rome  the  arch  of  Titus  with  the 
sculptured  representation  of  the  sacred  vessels 
of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  which  were  carried 
before  the  wondering  eyes  of  the  Roman  populace 
in  that  triumphal  procession  ;  this  arch  tells  us 


HISTORY   OF  THE   PEOPLE   OF   ISRAEL.        30! 

still  in  its  mighty  stone  language  what  happened 
at  Jerusalem  eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  But 
what  a  change  in  Rome  itself  !  When  the  glory 
of  the  Caesars  had  fallen  into  the  dust  and  Eome 
had  become  a  provincial  city,  there  arose  in  Eome 
a  new  universal  dominion,  a  dominion  so  powerful 
and  extensive  that  even  the  empire  of  the  ancient 
Roman  emperors  grows  pale  in  comparison.  And 
the  wielder  of  this  new  Roman  dominion  was  the 
man  with  the  triple  crown,  the  successor  of  the 
Jewish  high  priest.  The  new  spiritual  power, 
which  originated  on  Jewish  soil,  has  overcome 
the  whole  world  and  triumphed  over  Rome.  To 
it  even  Rome  was  compelled  to  bow,  confessing 
the  supremacy  of  Jerusalem.  For  empire  passes 
away,  but  the  spirit  endures.  It  is  the  only  im- 
perishable thing  on  earth  and  in  history. 


APPENDIX. 


QUESTIONS   AND  ANSWERS   ON   ''THE   HISTORY  OF 
THE  PEOPLE  OF  ISRAEL." 

A  reader  of  The  Open  Court  has  proposed  a  number  of  ques- 
tions on  "  The  History  of  the  People  of  Israel"  which  Pro- 
fessor Cornill  has  answered  one  by  one.  We  publish  the 
following  condensed  statement  referring  to  this  subject : 

On  page  8  occurs  the  remark  :  The  composer  of  the  Book  of 
Kings  had  before  him  the  official  annals  of  the  ancient  kings 
of  Israel  and  Judah.  The  frequent  reference  in  the  Book  of 
Kings  for  wanting  matter  to  "  the  book  of  the  chronicles  of 
the  kings  of  Israel"  or  "the  book  of  the  chronicles  of  the 
kings  of  Judah  "  is  probably  supposed  by  uncritical  readers  to 
mean  the  Bible  Book  of  Chronicles,  as  on  the  other  hand  the 
references  in  the  latter  book  to  "  the  book  of  the  kings  oi 
Israel "  or  sometimes  ' '  the  book  of  the  kings  of  Israel  and 
Judah  "  are  supposed  to  be  to  the  Biblical  Book  of  Kings. 

Professor  Cornill  explains  :  "  The  chronicles  of  the  kings  of 
Israel,  or  of  Judah,  to  which  the  author  of  the  Biblical  Book 
of  Kings  constantly  refers  cannot  be  the  Biblical  Book  of 
Chronicles,  since  the  latter  comes  at  the  earliest  from  the  Per- 
sian period  and  is  in  any  case  much  younger  than  the  Book  of 
Kings.  How  thus  could  it  be  possible  for  the  Book  of  Kings 
to  refer  to  the  Book  of  Chronicles,  and  vice  versa  ?  For  the 
evidence  on  the  latter  statement,  and  the  probabilities  regard- 
ing the  actual  "  chronicle  of  the  kings  of  Judah  "  which  con- 
stituted the  authority  of  the  writer  of  our  Book  of  Kings,  see 
Cornill's  Einleitung  in  das  alte  Testament,  pp.  108-128." 

3°3 


304  APPENDIX. 

In  the  description  of  the  Holy  Land  (p.  13)  occur  the  state- 
ments :  "  the  land  is  almost  entirely  shut  off  from  the  world 
outside,"  and  on  the  following  page,  "  at  the  same  time  it  is  a 
bridge  and  highway  of  world-commerce  without  parallel." 
How  are  these  two  statements  to  be  reconciled  ?  Professor 
Cornill's  answer  is :  "  The  characterization  is  derived  from  no 
less  an  authority  than  the  great  geographer  Karl  Ritter.  As 
an  explanatory  illustration  the  reader  is  referred  to  Switzer- 
land and  the  Tyrol.  By  virtue  of  the  passes  through  the  Gott- 
hard  and  St.  Bernard,  in  the  case  of  Switzerland,  and  of  the 
Brenner  Pass  in  the  case  of  the  Tyrol,  these  two  lands  consti- 
tute '  a  bridge  for  the  commerce  of  the  world  without  a 
parallel '  and  were  formerly  the  highways  for  the  entire  com- 
merce between  Italy  and  the  North,  while  nevertheless  both 
countries  are  shut  off  by  themselves  and  secluded." 

The  characterization  (p.  16)  of  Tacitus's  description  of  Pales- 
tine as  "  notoriously  unjust "  (beruchtigt)  seems  severe,  and  in 
explanation  Professor  Cornill  refers  to  the  passage  in  Tacitus's 
History,  V.,  2-9,  "  in  which  all  the  anti-Semitic  slander  of  the 
world  seems  to  be  collected." 

Professor  Cornill  accepts  Abraham  as  a  real  historical  per- 
son, but  rejects  all  the  other  patriarchs,  saying,  "However 
plastic  and  distinct  the  individualities  of  Ishmael  and  Edom 
Israel  and  Joseph  may  seem  to  us,  they  are  all  only  personifi- 
cations and  representations  of  the  races  or  tribes  whose  names 
they  bear."  "Races  never  adopt  the  names  of  individuals, 
but  the  patronymic  tribal  ancestor  is  first  and  ever  a  compo- 
site, a  personification  of  the  people."  (p.  30.)  When  asked  on 
what  ground  he  rejects  Isaac,  for  instance,  Professor  Cornill 
explains  that  "  Isaac  too  is  only  a  patronymic,  and  that  the 
name  is  plainly  a  synonym  of  Israel  (just  as  Jacob  is  used  in 
parallelism  to  Israel),  in  the  only  two  passages  in  which  it  oc- 
curs outside  the  Pentateuch.  (Amos  vii.  9,  16.)"  Moreover, 
Professor  Cornill  does  not  regard  Isaac  as  an  imposing  person- 
ality, but  on  the  contrary  strikingly  subordinate  and  painted 
in  dull  colors  ;  he  is  merely  the  son  of  his  father  and  the 
father  of  his  own  children. 

The  curious  shifting  of  the  names  Gideon  and  Jerubbaal  in 


APPENDIX.  305 

Judges  viii.  29  to  ix.  1,  led  to  some  confusion,  which  is  cleared 
up  by  the  observation  that  Gideon  and  Jerubbaal  are  two 
names  for  one  and  the  same  person.  He  had  taken  into  his 
harem,  from  purely  political  considerations  as  tribal  king  of 
Manasseh,  a  noble  woman  from  the  important  Canaanite  city 
of  Shechem,  and  her  son,  with  the  help  of  his  kinsmen  of 
Shechem,  set  himself  up  as  king  after  the  death  of  his  father. 
This  story  of  Abimelech  is  especially  well  and  reliably  trans- 
mitted and  is  an  historical  genre-piece  of  first  quality. 

The  seeming  conflict  of  characteristics  in  Saul  (pp.  63  and 
65),  who  is  spoken  of  as  having  a  noble  and  chivalrous  nature, 
a  strong  and  yet  sensitive  nature,  but  of  whom  Professor 
Cornill  also  says  that  his  whole  character  has  a  rude  and  com- 
monplace cast  (spiessburgerlich) ,  is  explained  on  the  ground 
that  spiessburgerlich  is  not  of  itself  a  reproach  :  "  the  Spiess- 
burger  is  thoroughly  honest  and  honorable,  an  honest  man  in 
the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  generally  an  excellent  fel- 
low ;  the  application  of  the  epithet  only  implies  that  Saul  was 
entirely  without  genius.  This  is  the  tragic  feature  of  the 
situation.  It  is  no  reproach  to  be  without  genius,  but  in 
Saul's  circumstances  genius  was  needed." 

It  will  be  observed  that  Professor  Cornill  entirely  ignores 
the  Goliath  episode.  In  reply  to  a  request  for  his  reasons,  he 
states:  "  The  episode  of  Goliath  is  pure  legend,  inasmuch  as 
the  giant  Goliath,  according  to  the  indisputable  testimony  of 
2  Samuel  xxi.  19,  was  killed  in  David's  wars  with  the  Philis- 
tines, and  by  the  Bethlehemite  Elhanan."  The  phrase  "the 
brother  of,"  preceding  "Goliath,"  is  not  in  the  original.  The 
corresponding  passage  1  Chronicles  xx.  5,  is  corrupt.  The 
writer  of  Chronicles,  which  is  much  later,  or  some  copyist, 
misunderstood  the  word  Beth-lehemite  (-lechemi)  in  2  Samuel 
xxi.  19,  and  brought  out  of  it "  Lachmi "  as  the  name  of  the 
person  slain,  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  source,  and  then 
to  make  this  harmonize  with  the  legend  of  David  he  inserted 
the  words  "brother  of"  before  Goliath.  Older  translators 
then  adopted  this  phrase  into  the  original  passage  in  2  Samuel. 

In  the  first  book  of  Samuel,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  chapters 
from  xviii.  to  xxvi. ,  there  are  apparently  two  occasions  on 


306  APPENDIX. 

which  Saul  hurls  a  javelin  at  David  while  he  is  with  him  in 
his  house,  and  two  occasions  on  which  David  approaches  Saul, 
while  the  latter  is  pursuing  him,  and  leaves  evidence  that  he 
might  have  taken  Saul's  life  but  spared  it  out  of  consideration 
for  the  royal  office,  and  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  Jonathan. 
Professor  Cornill  speaks  of  but  one  of  the  first  incidents  be- 
cause there  are  two  parallel  accounts  involved  and  rather 
clumsily  woven  together.  He  entirely  passes  over  the  other 
incident,  the  duplication  of  which  is  to  be  explained  in  the 
same  way,  not  because  he  questions  the  verity  of  the  incident, 
but  because  it  is  relatively  insignificant ;  it  may  be  an  impor- 
tant testimonial  for  David's  character,  but  has  no  particular 
influence  upon  the  political  development  of  the  people  of 
Israel. 

Our  history  (p.  123),  after  mentioning  the  accession  to  the 
throne  of  Israel  of  the  usurper  Pekah,  adds  :  "  In  Jerusalem 
the  crown  had  just  been  assumed  by  Ahaz,  the  grandson  of 
Azariah,"  whereas  2  Kings  xvi.  1,  says  that  this  occurred  in 
"the  seventeenth  year  of  Pekah."  Moreover  Professor  Cor- 
nill entirely  ignores  King  Jotham,  to  whom  2  Kings,  xv.  32 
gives  a  reign  of  sixteen  years.  Of  this  and  the  general  con- 
fusion in  the  dates  of  these  two  chapters  Professor  Cornill 
says :  "  The  chronology  of  the  period  in  Israelitish  history 
from  the  accession  of  Jehu  to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Sen- 
nacherib is  extremely  uncertain.  It  is  conceded  and  undeni- 
able that  the  chronology  of  the  Bible  is  inconsistent  here  and 
objectively  incorrect.  We  are  forced  to  depend  here  upon  the 
chronology  of  the  Assyrians  which  is  at  our  disposal  and  which 
we  have  to  use  as  a  basis.  According  to  the  accounts  of  the 
Assyrians  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  Jehu  occupied  the  throne  of 
Samaria  in  the  year  842,  wherefore  the  murder  of  Ahaziah 
had  already  taken  place,  while  by  Assyrian  records  Ahaz  must 
have  reigned  in  Jerusalem  in  735.  Since  Ahab  of  Israel  was 
still  ruling  in  854,  we  must  accept  842  as  the  first  year  of  Jehu, 
and  consequently  of  Athaliah  also.  Now  the  Bible  reckons  : ' 
Athaliah  6  years,  Joash  40,  Amaziah  29,  Azariah-Uzziah  52, 
and  Jotham  16  years,  that  is  altogether  143  years,  whereas 
according  to  Assyrian  chronology  there  can  have  been  but 


APPENDIX.  307 

107.  Since  therefore  the  Judean  series  must  be  shortened  it 
will  be  simplest  to  either  strike  entirely  from  the  list  or  reduce 
to  a  minimum  the  reign  of  Jotham,  who  according  to  the  ex- 
press declaration  of  2  Kings  xv.  5,  was  regent  for  his  leper 
father.  But  after  all  we  must  give  up  the  attempt  to  entirely 
reconcile  the  "  synchronisms"  of  the  Book  of  Kings. 

The  victory  at  Raphiah,  referred  to  on  page  130,  of  Sargon 
the  Assyrian  over  the  combined  Egyptians  and  Canaanites,  is 
not  referred  to  by  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  but  it  is  attested  by 
the  Assyrian  monuments  of  Sargon  himself.  Raphiah  is  the 
same  place  where  in  217  occurred  the  famous  battle  between 
Ptolemy  IV.  and  Antiochus  III. 

In  reply  to  a  question  regarding  the  seeming  confusion  in 
the  account  of  the  deeds  of  King  Hezekiah,  Professor  Cor- 
nill  says  :  "  The  only  explanation  that  can  be  offered  for  the 
statement,  2  Kings  xviii.  8,  that  Hezekiah  smote  the  Philis- 
tines even  to  Gaza,  coming  where  it  does,  is  that  Hezekiah 
actually  succeeded  in  regaining  some  parts  of  his  country 
which  Sennacherib  had  taken  from  him.  It  signifies  nothing 
that  this  statement  occurs  in  the  Bible  before  the  account  of 
the  invasion  of  Sennacherib,  and  since  Isaiah  as  well  as  Sar- 
gon and  Sennacherib,  there  seems  to  be  no  other  way  but  to 
assume  that  2  Kings  xviii.  8,  belongs  in  fact  after  chapter 
xix.,  just  as  the  last  half  of  chapter  xx.  plainly  belongs  after 
chapter  xviii.,  verse  8. 

The  History  of  Israel  states  that  Elijah  (1  Kings  xviii.  21) 
was  advocating  the  calves  of  Dan  and  Bethel.  On  the  surface 
this  seems  quite  contrary  to  the  fact,  and  Elijah's  address  be- 
ginning with  this  verse  is  commonly  quoted  as  an  evidence 
for  the  purely  monotheistic  zeal  of  Elijah.  Professor  Corn  ill's 
statement  and  his  reasons  can  be  understood  only  in  connec- 
tion with  1  Kings  xii.  28-33,  and  what  follows  up  to  the  pas- 
sage in  question.  He  says:  "It  is  implied  in  1  Kings  xviii. 
21,  that  Elijah  advocated  'the  calves  of  Dan  and  Bethel.'" 
(p.  127. )  The  "  calf -worship  "  wa,s  the  official  religious  service 
of  Israel's  Jahveh  cult.  (1  Kings  xii.  28-33.)  Not  a  word  of 
criticism  of  this  is  reported  to  us  on  the  part  of  Elijah.  Con- 
sequently when  he  grows  zealous  for  the  national  Israelitish 


308  APPENDIX. 

worship  as  against  the  Tyrian  Baal,  he  is  "advocating"  the 
calves  of  Dan  and  Bethel.  It  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that 
these  "calves"  were  not  idols  in  the  technical  sense,  but 
merely  symbolical  representations  of  Jahveh,  the  god  of 
Israel ;  Hosea  was  the  first  who  regarded  them  as  idols. 


INDEX. 


ABIATHAR,  opposes  Solomon's 
claim,  82  ;  is  banished,  83. 

Abijah,spnof  Rehoboam,  alli- 
ance with  Damascus,  97. 

Abimelech,  succeeds  Gideon, 
52  ;  slain  at  Thebez,  53. 

Abishai,  brother  of  Joab,  in 
David's  wars,  77. 

Abner,  Saul's  cousin  and  gen- 
eral, establishes  Ish-bosheth 
at  Mahanaim,  defeated  by 
Joab,  deserts  to  David,  72  ; 
murdered  by  Joab,  73. 

Abraham,  an  historical  per- 
sonage, 21  ;  compared  with 
Lycurgus,  29. 

Absalom,  slays  Amnon,  cul- 
tivates insurrection,  79;  de- 
feated and  slain  by  Joab, 
80. 

Achish,  of  Gath,  receives 
David,  69. 

Adonijah,  David's  heir,  sup- 
planted by  Solomon,  82  ;  is 
executed,  83. 

Agrippa,  a  friend  at  the 
Roman  court,  253;  his  youth, 
254  ;  a  friend  of  Caligula, 
made  successor  to  Philip. 
255;  succeeds  Antipas,  re- 
ceives Judea,  257  ;  favors  the 
Jews,  persecutes  the  Christ- 
ians, 258. 

Agrippa  (II. ),  serves  his  people 
at  Rome,  259 ;  his  vain  at- 
tempt at  conciliation,  270 ; 
supports  the  peace  party, 


273  ;  with  the  Roman  forces, 
279. 
u-kak-rimi,  Cossaeic  King, 


Ahab,  marries  Jezebel,  101; 
undeserved  ill  repute,  makes 
peace  with  Judah,  102;  wars 
with  Damascus,  103-4;  peace, 
105 ;  renewed  war,  death, 
106 ;  the  curse  upon  his 
house,  108. 

Ahaz,  King  of  Judah,  assailed 
by  Israel  and  Damascus,  123, 
sacrifices  his  son ,  calls  in  the 
Assyrians,  124;  dies,  130. 

Ahaziah,  a  weak  king  of  Is- 
rael, 107. 

Ahaziah,  King  of  Judah,  108. 

Ahmes,  Pharaoh,  expels  the 
Hyksos,  25. 

Aijalon,  occupied  by  Elon  of 
the  tribe  of  Zebulon,  50. 

Albinus,  procurator  in  Judea, 
266. 

Alcimus,  a  Hellenist,  ap- 
pointed high  priest  by  Deme- 
trius, 198 ;  persecutes  pious 
Jews,  200. 

Alexander  the  Great,  his  rela- 
tion to  the  Jews,  170-171  ; 
his  policy,  176. 

Alexander  Jannseus  (Jona- 
than-Alexander) high  priest 
and  king,  215 ;  wars  with 
Ptolemy  and  Cleopatra, 
216  ;  his  desecration  of  the 
sacred  office,  his  people  rebel, 
309 


INDEX. 


217;  massacres  the  Pharisees, 
218  ;  his  achievements,  219. 

Alexander  (II.),  captured  by 
Pompey,  escapes,  invades 
Judea,  225;  fails  and  tries 
again,  226  ;  executed,  227. 

Alexandra-Salome,  wife  of 
Aristobulus  and  of  Alex- 
ander Jannaeus,  215 ;  her 
rule,  220  ;  her  death,  221. 

Alexander  Balas,  pretender, 
opposes  Demetrius  King  of 
Syria,  201;  courts  Jonathan, 
appoints  him  high  priest, 
succeeds,  and  is  then  de- 
feated, 202. 

Alexander,  a  pretender  to  the 
throne  of  Archelaus,  245. 

Amalekites,  defeated  by  Saul, 
64. 

Amasa,  supplants  Joab  as 
David's  general,  is  slain  by 
Joab,  81. 

Amaziah,  war  with  Joash  of 
Israel,  120-121 ;  is  slain,  121. 

Amenhotep  IV.  the  Heretic 
King,  26. 

Ammonites,  assail  the  Israel- 
ites east  of  the  Jordan,  55. 

Amnon,  David's  eldest  son, 
forces  his  sister  Thamar,  78  ; 
murdered  by  Absalom,  79. 

Amon,  King  of  Judah,  mur- 
dered, 136. 

Amos,  though  a  Judean, 
worked  in  Israel,  128. 

Ananias,  high  priest,  273 ; 
murdered,  274. 

Ananiel,  high  priest,  232 ;  re- 
moved by  Herod,  233. 

Ananos,  high  priest,  266,  276, 
280  ;  slain,  281. 

Antigonus  (Mattathias),  es- 
capes from  Roman  imprison- 
ment, 226  ;  seeks  in  vain  the 
support  of  Caesar,  227;  makes 
incursion  in  Galilee,  229; 
seeks  aid  of  the  Parthians 


and  takes  Judea,  230 ;  be- 
sieged by  Sosius,  231  ;  taken 
and  executed,  232. 

Antioch,  founded  by  Seleucus 
Nicator,  Jews  in,  171. 

Antiochus  III.  takes  Palestine 
from  Egypt,  173 ;  gives  his 
daughter  to  Ptolemy  V., 
186 ;  slain,  187. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  188- 
196  ;  sacks  Jerusalem,  191 ; 
offers  sacrifices  to  Zeus  in 
the  temple,  192. 

Antiochus  VII.  recognizes  the 
independence  of  Judea,  207  ; 
tries  to  overthrow  it,  208  ; 
conquers  it,  209  ;  dies,  210. 

Antiochus  IX.  fails  to  subdue 
Hyrcanus,  211. 

Antipater,  prefect  in  Idumea, 
takes  up  the  cause  of  Hyr- 
canus II.,  222,  225;  procur- 
ator, 228 ;  appoints  his  sons 
Phasael  and  Herod  generals, 
228  ;  goes  over  to  Cassius,  is 
poisoned,  229. 

Antony,  ruler  of  Asia,  229  ; 
supports  Herod,  230-231 ; 
gives  much  of  Herod's  ter- 
ritory to  Cleopatra,  233. 

Apuriu,  of  Egyptian  monu- 
ments, not  the  Hebrews,  40. 

Apollonius,  commandant  of 
Jerusalem,  defeated  by  Judas 
Maccabseus,  194. 

Aramaeans,  the  Hebrew  patri- 
archs were,  20  ;  defeated  by 
David  at  Helam,  77 ;  estab- 
lish a  kingdom  at  Damas- 
cus, 91.  (See  Damascus  and 
Syria.) 

Aretas,  an  Arab  sheik,  aids 
Hyrcanus  II.,  222,  223  ;  war 
with  Herod  Antipas,  252. 

Archelaus,  son  of  Herod,  240  ; 
saluted  as  king  by  the 
troops,  241 ;  begins  his  reign 
with  a  massacre  in  the 


INDEX. 


temple,  goes  to  Rome  for 
confirmation,  242 ;  trouble 
with  a  pretender,  245;  is  re- 
moved and  banished  to  Gaul, 
246. 

Aristobulus  (Judas  A. ) ,  adopts 
royal  title,  murders  his  rela- 
tives, a  Hellenist,  214;  Ju- 
daizes  Galilee,  dies,  215. 

Aristobulus  (II.),  220;  over- 
throws Hyrcanus  II.  221 ;  de- 
feated by  him,  222;  aided  by 
Scaurus,  223;  overthrown  by 
Pompey,  224;  taken  prisoner 
to  Rome,  225;  escapes,  rebels, 
and  isreimprisoned,  226;  re- 
leased by  Caesar,  but  is  poi- 
soned, 227. 

Aristobulus,  high  priest,  mur- 
dered by  Herod,  233. 

Artaxerxes  Longhand,  favors 
the  Jews,  155,  160. 

Asa,  King  of  Judah,  son  of 
Abijah,  punishes  his  mother 
for  idolatry,  98;  is  beset  by 
Baasha  of  Israel,  98;  fortifies 
Judah,  99. 

Asinaeus  and  Anilseus,  two 
Jews,  cause  disturbance  in 
Mesopotamia,  259. 

Assyria,  rise  of,  24;  revival  of 
under  Asurnazirpal,  101;  in- 
timate connection  of  her 
history  with  that  of  Israel, 
117. 

Asurnazirpal,  King  of  Assyria, 
receives  tribute  from  Omri, 
101. 

Asurbanipal,  decay  of  Assyria 
under,  138. 

Athaliah,  daughter  of  Ahab, 
marries  Jehoram,  103;  mur- 
ders her  grandchildren,  112; 
institutes  worship  of  Baal 
at  Jerusalem ;  explanation 
of  her  course,  113;  death, 
116 

Augustus,  favors  Herod,  234  ; 


confirms  Herod's  will,  243  ; 
takes  a  new  census  of  Judea, 

248. 

BAAL,  worship  of,  suppressed 
in  Israel  by  Jehu,  111;  estab- 
lished in  Judah  by  Athaliah, 
113. 

Baasha,  murders  Nadab,  98; 
blockades  Judah,  98-99;  end 
of  reign,  99. 

Babylon,  fall  of,  148,  150. 

Babylonia,  primitive  inhabit- 
ants of,  Sumerians,  22;  con- 
quered by  Semites,  22;  con- 
quered by  Ejamites,  23. 

Babylonian  civilization,  our 
debt  to  it,  22. 

Babylonian  captivity,  see  Cap- 
tivity. 

Babylonian  Jews,  their  condi- 
tions and  relations  with  those 
returned  from  exile,  155. 

Bacchides,  Syrian  general,  de- 
feats Judas  Maccabaeus,  199; 
makes  peace  with  Jonathan, 
201. 

Bagoses,  Persian  governor  ,169. 

Barak,  resists  and  overthrows 
Sisera,  50. 

Bath-sheba,78;  controls  David, 
82 ;  has  Solomon  declared 
successor  to  David,  82. 

Benaiah,  captain  of  the  guard, 
supports  Solomon's  claims, 
82. 

Ben-hadad,  King  of  Damascus, 
makes  war  on  Israel,  de- 
feated by  Ahab,  104;  breaks 
forth  with  Ahab,  106;  defeats 
him,  107;  dies,  108. 

Ben-hadad  II.  besieges  Sama- 
ria, 119;  defeated  by  Joash 
of  Israel,  120. 

Benjamin,  united  with  Joseph 
in  trying  to  rule,  37;  sepa- 
rated from  Joseph  after  the 
conquest  of  Canaan,  49. 


3I2 


INDEX. 


Bethsura,  scene  of  a  victory  of 
Judas  Maccabaeus,  195;  be- 
sieged by  Lysias,  196;  taken, 
197. 

Bethzachariah,  scene  of  defeat 
of  Judas  Maccabaeus,  196. 

Beth-horon,  scene  of  defeat  of 
Cestius  Gallus,  275. 

Bible  History,  weakness  of  as 
commonly  taught,  4. 

CAESAR,  releases  Aristobulus, 
227  ;  favors  the  Jews,  228. 

Csesarea  Philippi,  founded  by 
Philip,  son  of  Herod,  244; 
insurrection  in.  265  ;  terrible 
slaughter  in,  275. 

Caligula,  253-254  ;  intimate 
with  Agrippa,  255. 

Canaan,  origin  of  name,  10. 

Canaanites,  expelled  from  Pa- 
lestine by  Philistines,  45 ; 
conquest  of,  a  slow  process, 
47  ;  enslaved  by  Solomon,  91. 

Captivity,  Babylonian,  begin- 
ning of,  141-144 ;  influence 
of,  on  the  mission  of  Israel, 
145-148 ;  return  from,  first 
expedition,  150-152;  second 
expedition,  156. 

Cassius,  courted  by  Antipater, 
229. 

Cassius  Longinus,  legate  in 
Syria,  260. 

Celer,  a  Roman  tribune,  butch- 
ers Jews,  is  executed,  262. 

Cestius  Gallus,  legate  in  Syria, 
267 ;  burns  part  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  suffers  defeat,  275. 

Chabiri,  the,  possibly  the  He- 
brews, 34-35. 

Chatti,  see  Cheta,  39. 

Chedorlaomer,  King  of  Elam, 
24. 

Cheta,  invade  Syria,  39  ;  rule 
Northern  Palestine,  40;  their 
rule  overthrown,  45. 

Chetasar,  King  of  the  Cheta, 


his  war  with  Rameses  II., 

39. 
Christian  era  not  coincident 

with  the  birth  of  Christ,  239. 
Chu-en-aten,  see  Amenhotep. 
Claudius,  aided  to  the  throne 

by  Agrippa, gives  him  Judea, 

257. 

leopatra,  invades  Palestine, 

216. 
Ccelesyria,   invaded  by  Shal- 

maneser  II.,    105,   108,  117, 

118  ;  invaded  by  Semiramis, 

119,  120  ;  falls  to  Egypt,  170; 

taken  by  Syria,  172. 
Coponius,  Roman  procurator 

in  Palestine,  248. 
Cossaeans,   conquer  northeast 

Mesopotamia,  24. 
Crassus,  sacks  Jerusalem,  226. 
Cuneiform  characters,  used  by 

Pharaoh  Amenhotep,  27. 
Cuspius  Fadus,  Roman  procu- 
rator in  Judea,  260. 
Cyaxares,  139. 
Cyprus,  important  fortress  in 

last    stand    against    Rome, 

274. 
Cyrus,   King  of  Persia,   148 ; 

conquers  Babylon, reason  for 

his  release  of  the  Jews,  150. 

DAMASCUS,  capital  of  Aramae- 
an Kingdom,  91 ;  wars  with 
Ahab  of  Israel,  103-106  ;  be- 
sieged by  Shalmaneser  II., 
118 ;  taken  by  Assyrians, 
122;  the  kingdom  obliterat- 
ed, 124;  slaughter  of  Jews 
in,  275. 

Dan,  settles  in  the  north,  con- 
quers and  renames  Laish,  49. 

David,  8 ;  called  in  to  soothe 
Saul,  characterization  of, 
loved  by  Jonathan,  marries 
Michal,  66 ;  suspected  by 
Saul,  67 ;  assailed  by  Saul, 
68 ;  flees  to  Judah  ;  his  affair 


INDEX. 


313 


with  Nabal,  68;  relieves 
Keilah,  becomes  a  Philis- 
tine vassal,  resides  at  Ziklag, 
69  ;  becomes  the  avenger  of 
Saul  and  the  finisher  of  his 
work,  tribal  King  of  Judah, 
resides  at  Hebron,  71 ;  at- 
tacked by  Abner,  receives 
Abner  to  favor,  72 ;  pun- 
ishes the  murderers  of  Ish- 
bosheth,  73  ;  chosen  suc- 
cessor to  Ish-bosheth,  sub- 
dues the  Philistines,  defeats 
the  Moabites,  74  ;  moves  his 
capital  to  Jerusalem,  con- 
trasted with  Saul,  75 ;  brings 
the  ark  of  the  covenant  to 
Jerusalem,  76  ;  chastises  the 
Ammonites  and  the  Ara- 
maeans, takes  the  Ammonite 
capital,  77  ;  his  wars  all  de- 
fensive, his  sin  with  Bath- 
sheba,  78;  banishes  Absalom, 
receives  him  back,  79  ;  flees 
before  his  revolt,  laments 
his  death,  80 ;  returns  to 
Jerusalem,  recalls  Joab,  sup- 
presses the  rebellion  of  Sheba 
the  Benjaminite,  81  ;  con- 
trolled by  Bath-sheba,  makes 
Solomon  heir  to  the  throne, 
82  ;  summary,  83-85  ;  created 
the  people  of  Israel,  83. 

Darius,  permits  work  on  tem- 
ple to  continue,  154. 

Dead  Sea,  11. 

Deborah,  50. 

Demetrius,  King  of  Syria,  de- 
feats and  slays  Antiochus 
V.  and  Lysias,  appoints 
Alcimus  high  priest,  198 ; 
wars  with  the  Maccabees, 
199-201 ;  opposed  by  a  pre- 
tender Alexander  Balas,  201. 

Demetrius  II.,  defeats  Alex- 
ander Balas,  202  ;  makes  con- 
cessions to  Jonathan,  is  over- 
thrown by  Trypho,  203. 


Demetrius  III.,  supports  the 
Pharisees  against  Alexan- 
der, 218. 

Dionysius  Exiguus,  calcula- 
tor of  the  Christian  era, 
239. 

Division  of  David's  kingdom, 


ECCLESIASTES,   a    product   of 

Hellenism,  181. 
Edom,   foundation  of   nation 

of,  34  ;  frees  itself  from  Sol- 
omon, 90  ;  successful  revolt 

from  Judah,  108  ;  conquered 

by  Hyrcanus,  211. 
Edomites,  assail  David  and  are 

punished,  77. 
Ehud,  stabs  Eglon,   king    of 

Moab,  51. 
Elah,  of  Israel,  son  of  Baasha, 

murdered  by  Zimri,  99. 
Elamites,  the,  their  conquest 

of  Babylonia,  23  ;  overcome 

by  Semitic  Babylonians,  24. 
Elasa,  scene  of  the  death  of 

Judas  Maccabseus,  199. 
Elath,  Edomite  seaport,  taken 

by  Uzziah,  121 ;  restored  by 

Israel,  123. 
Eleazar,  a  Pharisee,  rebukes 

Hyrcanus,  212. 
Eleazar,  leader  of  the  Zealots, 

taken      treacherously      by 

Felix,  263. 
Eleazar,   son    of    Ananias,    a 

leader  of  opposition  to  Rome, 

273  ;  engages  in  civil  strife, 

274. 
Eleazar,  son  of  Simon,  one  of 

the    leaders    in    Jerusalem, 

284;    defeated    by  John  of 

Gish-Chala,  285. 
Eleazar,  a  noble  Jew,  at  the 

siege  of  Machserus,  295. 
Eleazar,  his  desperate  defence 

of  Masada,  296-297. 
Eliashib,    high   priest,    allied 


INDEX. 


with  the  enemies  of  Nehe- 
miah,  166. 

Elijah,  religious  conflict  with 
Ahab  pure  legend,  102  ;  does 
not  condemn  the  Baal  wor- 
ship, 127. 

Elisha,  selects  Jehu  to  exter- 
minate the  house  of  Ahab, 
108 ;  connected  with  Jeho- 
ahaz  of  Israel,  119. 

Emmaus,  scene  of  victory  of 
Judas  Maccabgeus,  195. 

Esarhaddon,  conquers  Egypt, 
137. 

Ethbaal,  king  of  Tyre,  father 
of  Jezebel,  101. 

Exodus,  from  Egypt,  History 
of  Israel  begins  with,  16 ; 
time  of,  27-41 ;  why  it  tar- 
ried in  Sinai,  43. 

Ezra,  his  influence  with  Ar- 
taxerxes,  155  ;  arrival  in  Je- 
rusalem, 156 ;  his  zeal 
against  mixed  marriages, 
156-159;  assisted  by  Nehe- 
miah,  160 ;  produces  and 
reads  the  law,  164. 

FELIX,  Roman  procurator,  at- 
tacks the  Zealots,  263 ;  sup- 
presses Messiahs,  264 ;  plund- 
ers Jews  in  Caesarea,  re- 
called, 265. 

Festus  (Porcius),  procurator 
in  Judea,  265. 

Flavius  Silva,  takes  Masada, 
296. 

Frederick  William  IV.  of  Prus- 
sia, compared  to  Saul,  65. 

GABINIUS,  general  under  Pom- 
pey,  224,  226. 

Galilee,  physical  features  of, 
12 ;  Judaized  by  Aristobulus, 
215  ;  conquest  of,  by  the  Ro- 
mans. 277-279. 

Gedaliah,  Babylonian  prefect 
over  Jerusalem,  143. 


Gessius  Florus,  procurator  in 
Judea,  266 ;  his  extortions 
and  outrages,  268-269. 

Geshem  the  Arabian,  opponent 
of  Nehemiah,  162. 

Gibbethon,  besieged  by  Israel- 
ites, 98,  99. 

Gibeonites,  a  Canaanitish  al- 
liance, 64. 

Gideon,  defeats  the  Midian- 
ites,  52;  establishes  kingdom, 
52. 

Gilboa,  scene  of  defeat  and 
death  of  Saul,  70. 

Gilead,  location  of,  10. 

Gish-chala,  taken  by  the  Ro- 
mans, 279. 

Gad,  assailed  by  Ephraim  and 
Manasseh,  51. 

Gorgias,  Syrian  general,  de- 
feated by  Judas  Maccabaeus, 
195. 

Goshen,  Land  of,  has  monu- 
ments of  bricks  made  of 
mud  and  straw,  40. 

Greece,  influence  of  on  modern 
civilization,  2  ;  decay  of  be- 
fore the  Macedonian  con- 
quest, 178-179. 

Gudea  of  Sirgurla,  Babylonian 
prince,  23. 

HADAD,  frees  Edom  from  Is- 
rael, 90, 

Hagen  of  Tronje,  compared 
with  Joab,  73. 

Hammurabi,  founder  of  Baby- 
lonian Empire,  24. 

Hanum,  son  of  Nahash,  in- 
sults David's  messengers,  76 ; 
is  punished,  77. 

Haran  (Carrhse)  the  initial 
point  of  Israel's  emigration, 
20. 

Hazael,  King  of  Damascus, 
murders  Ben-hadad,  108.  de- 
feated by  Shalmaneser  II., 
171;  overruns  Israel,  118. 


INDEX. 


315 


Hebrew  tradition,  reliable  in 
essentials,  5;  historical 
monuments,  scarcity  of,  6, 
8,  9 ;  inscription,  the  soli- 
tary, 7  ;  legend  fitted  to  Ori- 
ental history,  21. 

Hebron,  David's  residence 
while  tribal  king,  71. 

Helix,  heads  a  rebellion  in 
Jerusalem,  229. 

Heliodorus,  a  Syrian  official, 
tries  to  plunder  the  temple, 
188 ;  murders  Seleucus  IV., 
188. 

Hellas,  see  Greece. 

Hellenism,  175  ;  contrasted 
with  the  Oriental  spirit, 
176  ;  influence  of  in  Alex- 
andria, 179 ;  in  Judea,  179- 
182,  187-192. 

Hermon,  Mount,  12. 

Herod,  son  of  Antipater,  228  ; 
avenges  his  father's  murder, 
suppresses  uprising  in  Gali- 
lee, 229;  confirmed  by  An- 
tony, flees  before  Antigonus, 
230;  made  king  of  Judea, 
231 ;  takes  Jerusalem  by 
storm,  232 ;  recalls  Hyr- 
canus,  appoints  Ananel  high 
priest,  232  ;  displaces  him  for 
Aristobulus,  murders  the  lat- 
ter, resists  the  wiles  of  Cleo- 
patra, 233  ;  makes  war  on 
Malchus,  wins  the  favor  of 
Augustus,  234 ;  estimate  of 
his  reign,  235-237;  his  last 
act  to  condemn  two  viola- 
tors of  the  Roman  dignity, 
238. 

Herod  Antipas,  son  of  Herod 
the  Great,  240;  sovereign 
of  Jesus,  founds  Tiberias, 
244;  aided  by  Tiberius 
against  Aretas,252 ;  quarrels 
with  Agrippa,  254  ;  removed 
and  exiled  by  Caligula, 
257. 


Herod  (III.),  in  charge  of  tb« 
temple,  259. 

Herodeion,  surrenders,  295. 

Herodias,  sister  of  Agrippa 
254;  goes  into  exile  witb 
her  husband  Herod  Antipas. 
257. 

Hezekiah,  130 ;  rebels  againsfc 
Sennacherib,  visited  by  Mer- 
odach-baladan,  also  by  Ethio- 
pians, receives  Padi  of  Ekron 
as  prisoner,  joins  revolt,  132; 
submits  to  Sennacherib, 
gives  up  to  him  his  own  fam- 
ily, 133  ;  refuses  to  surrender 
Jerusalem  to  Sennacherib. 
134;  expels  the  Philistines 
from  Gaza,  submits  to  As- 
syria, 136. 

High  priest,  first  notice  of, 
152. 

High  priesthood,  limited  ta 
the  sons  of  Zadok,  153  ;  atti- 
tude of  toward  Hellenism, 
182  ;  furnishes  the  leaders  in 
resistance  to  Rome,  276. 

Hiram  of  Tyre,  lends  to  Solo- 
mon, forecloses  on  border- 
lands, 91. 

Historical  records  in  Israel  be* 
gin  with  the  kings,  17. 

Hittites,  see  Chatti. 

Hophra,  see  Nahabra. 

Horites,  conquered  by  Edom- 
ites,  34. 

Hosea  the  prophet  the  first  to 
condemn  the  worship  oi 
Baal  as  heathenish,  128. 

Hoshea,  murders  Pekah,  trib- 
utary Assyrian  ruler,  124. 

Hushai,  delays  Absalom's  pui< 
suit  of  David,  80. 

Hyksos  in  Egypt,  25. 

Hyrcania,  Jews  deported  to. 
169. 

Hyrcanus,  escapes  assassins- 
208;  beset  by  Antiochus 
VII.,  209;  treats  with  him, 


INDEX. 


receives  easy  terms,  takes 
aggressive,  210 ;  conquers 
all  Palestine,  211;  deserts 
the  Pharisees,  allies  himself 
with  the  Sadducees,  212 ;  in- 
congruity of  his  position, 
213. 

Hyrcanus  (II.),  high  priest, 
220 ;  resigns  in  favor  of 
Aristobulus,  221  ;  defeats 
him,  222;  appears  before 
Pompey,  224 ;  reappointed 
high  priest,  225 ;  confirmed 
by  Caesar,  227 ;  mutilated 
by  Antigonus,  230  ;  recalled 
to  Jerusalem  by  Herod,  232; 
murdered  by  Herod,  234. 

IDUMEANS,  called  to  Jerusalem 
by  the  Zealots,  280;  mas- 
sacre inhabitants,  281. 

Immigration  to  Canaan,  cir- 
cumstances of,  33. 

Isaiah,  regarded  the  depend- 
ency of  Judah  on  Assyria 
as  a  blessing,  146. 

Ishmael,  his  relation  to  Israel, 
32. 

Ishmael,  high  priest,  265. 

Ish-bosheth,  son  and  successor 
of  Saul,  71 ;  quarrels  with 
his  general,  Abner,  72 ;  as- 
sassinated, 73. 

Isopolity,  171. 

Israel,  its  contribution  to  civ- 
ilization compared  with  that 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  3  ;  im- 
migration to  Canaan  estab- 
lished, 19  ;  time  of,  27  ;  the 
people  born  of  the  Exodus, 
42 ;  learned  agriculture  from 
the  Canaanites,  48  ;  centrif- 
ugal tendency  in,  48. 

Israel,  kingdom  of,  establish- 
ed, 96 ;  combines  with  Da- 
mascus against  Judah,  123  ; 
becomes  an  Assyrian  de- 
pendency, 124;  end  of  the 


kingdom,  124 ;  much  undet  • 
rated,  126 ;  its  religion  as 
pure  as  that  of  Judah,  127  •, 
not  all  taken  captives  by 
Shalmaneser  IV.,  126;  the 
home  of  prophecy,  128  ;  its 
peculiar  mission,  146-147. 
Israelites  adopt  the  language 
of  Canaan,  33. 

JABESH-GILEAD,  seeks  help 
from  all  Israel,  55. 

Jabin,  king  of  Hazor,  49. 

Jacob  and  Laban,  stand  for 
Israel  and  Aram,  31. 

Jacob,  meaning  of  name  ;  rep- 
resents a  second  emigra- 
tion from  Mesopotamia,  35. 

Jacobitic  emigrants  unite  with 
Abrahamitic,  37. 

Jadduah,  high  priest,  170. 

Jair  and  Machir,  families  of 
Manasseh,  49. 

Jason,  brother  of  Onias  III., 
high  priest,  an  ardent  Hel- 
lenist, 189;  deposed,  190; 
dies,  191. 

Jebusites,  held  Jerusalem  be- 
fore David  made  it  his  capi- 
tal, 75. 

Jehoahaz,  son  of  Jehu,  his 
reign  a  wretched  period, 
112;  beset  by  Hazael  of 
Syria,  118 ;  the  unnamed 
king  with  Elisha,  119. 

Jehoahaz  of  Judah,  son  of 
Josiah,  made  king,  removed 
by  Necho,  140. 

Jehoash,  see  Joash. 

Jehoiada,  priest,  saves  Joash, 
112  ;  crowns  him,  116. 

Jehoiakim,  son  of  Josiah, 
King  of  Judah  as  vassal  of 
Egypt,  140;  rebels  against 
Nebuchadnezzar,  dies,  141. 

Jehoiachin,  King  of  Judah, 
captured  and  taken  to  Baby- 
Ion,  141. 


INDEX. 


3'7 


Jehoram,  of  Judah,  marries 
Athaliah,  loses  Edom  and 
Libnah,  108. 

Jehoram,  of  Israel,  becomes 
king,  107 ;  invades  Moab, 
107 ;  retakes  Ramoth,  108  ; 
murdered  by  Jehu,  109. 

Jehoshaphat,  of  Judah,  makes 
alliance  with  Israel,  103 ; 
fails  in  expedition  to  Ophir; 
supports  Ahab  against  Da- 
mascus, 106 ;  supports  Jeho- 
ram against  Moab,  dies,  107. 

Jehosheba,  saves  Joash,  her 
nephew,  from  Athaliah,  112. 

Jehu,  selected  to  exterminate 
the  house  of  Ahab,  murders 
Jehoram  of  Israel  and  Aha- 
ziah,  109 ;  murders  Jeze- 
bel, orders  murder  of  Jeho- 
ram's  sons,  110;  murders 
princes  of  Judah,  massacres 
the  worshippers  of  Baal, 
111 ;  sends  tribute  to  Shal- 
maneser  II.,  118;  dies  in 
peace,  117. 

Jephthah,  defeats  the  invad- 
ing Ammonites,  51. 

Jeremiah,  contemporary  of 
Josiah,  137. 

Jericho,  called  the  city  of 
Palms,  12  ;  taken  by  Joshua, 
47 ;  destroyed  by  King 
Ochus,  169. 

Jeroboam,  rebels  against  Sol- 
omon, is  expelled,  93  ;  King 
of  Israel,  96  ;  moves  his  cap- 
ital to  Penuel,  97  ;  and  again 
to  Tirzah,  98. 

Jeroboam  II.,  restores  Israel, 
subdues  Moab,  ruled  from 
Edom  to  Damascus,  122. 

Jerusalem,  made  the  capital 
by  David,  75 ;  sacked  by 
Joash,  121 ;  besieged  by  Sen- 
nacherib, 134;  destruction 
of,  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  142- 
143  ;  walls  rebuilt  by  Ezra, 


159 ;  torn  down  by  order  of 
Artaxerxes,  160  ;  rebuilt  by 
Nehemiah,  162-164;  final 
siege  and  destruction,  286- 
297. 

Jeshua,  one  of  the  Elders,  151 ; 
high  priest,  152. 

Jesus,  his  slight  influence  on 
Jewish  history,  239. 

Jesus,  a  conservative  leader, 
280  ;  slain,  281. 

Jesus  Sirach,  the  Book,  influ- 
enced by  Hellenism,  181. 

Jewish  Canon,  includes  histor- 
ical books  among  the  pro- 
phetic, 4. 

Jezebel,  wife  of  Ahab,  101 ; 
responsible  for  murder  of 
Naboth,  102  ;  murdered, 
110. 

Jezreel,  physical  features  of, 
12. 

Joab,  David's  nephew  and  gen- 
eral, defeats  Abner,  72 ; 
murders  Abner,  compared 
with  Hagen  of  Tronje,  73; 
defeats  the  Aramaeans,  pun- 
ishes the  Edomites,  77  ;  in- 
tercedes for  Absalom,  79 ; 
defeats  and  slays  Absalom, 
80 ;  is  dismissed,  recalled, 
suppresses  the  revolt  of  She- 
ba  the  Beujaminite,  81 ;  op- 
poses Bath-sheba,  82  ;  is  ex- 
ecuted, 83. 

Joash,  of  Judah,  saved  from 
the  phrenzy  of  Athaliah, 
112  ;  crowned,  116  ;  checks 
the  cupidity  of  the  priests, 
116;  ransoms  Jerusalem, 
118 ;  murdered,  120. 

Joash  of  Israel,  defeats  Ben- 
hadad  II. ,  attacks  Amaziah 
of  Judah,  120 ;  sacks  Jeru- 
salem, 121. 

Joazar,  high  priest,  248. 

Johanan,  slain  in  the  temple, 
169. 


INDEX. 


John,  a  brother  of  Judas  Mac- 
cabseus,  treacherously  slain, 
200. 

John  the  Baptist,  executed 
under  Herod  Antipas,  244. 

John  of  Gish-chala,  leader 
against  the  Romans  and 
Galilee,  277  ;  flees  to  Jerusa- 
lem, 279  ;  institutes  reign  of 
terror,  281 ;  shut  up  in  the 
temple  by  Simon,  283;  driven 
out  by  Eleazar,  284  ;  regains 
it  by  a  ruse,  285  ;  retires  to 
the  Upper  City,  292 ;  cap- 
tured, dies  in  Rome.  294. 

Jonathan,  son  of  Saul,  slays 
Philistine  prefect,  60  ;  makes 
an  assault  upon  Philistine 
camp,  61 ;  loves  David,  66  ; 
suspected  of  a  plot  with 
David  against  his  father,  67. 

Jonathan,  the  Maccabean,  suc- 
ceeds his  brother  Judas  Mac- 
cabseus,  200  ;  makes  a  peace 
with  Bacchides,  sets  up 
government  at  Michmas, 
courted  by  Demetrius,  201  ; 
high  priest,  202 ;  obtains 
concessions  from  Demetrius 
II.,  203;  supports  Deme- 
trius II.,  and  then  the  rebel 
Trypho,  203  ;  is  betrayed  by 
Trypho,  and  murdered,  204  ; 
his  merits,  204,  205. 

Jonathan,  high  priest,  asks  ap- 
pointment of  Felix,  263; 
murdered  by  Sicarii,  264. 

Jordan,  The  River,  10,  11. 

Joseph,  compared  with  u32olus, 
30 ;  forced  to  migrate  to 
Egypt,  37  ;  invades  Canaan, 
47. 

Joseph,  son  of  Gorion,  a  leader 
of  the  war  party,  276. 

Josephus,  the  historian,  one  of 
the  leaders  chosen  against 
the  Romans,  276,  277;  his 
defence  of  Jotapata,  278; 


becomes  the  adviser  of  Titus, 
284. 

Joshua,  takes  northern  and 
middle  Palestine,  leads  seven 
tribes  into  Canaan,  47. 

Joshua,  brother  of  Johanan, 
169. 

Josiah,  a  good  king,  137. 

Josiah,  king  of  Judah,  defeated 
by  Necho,  140. 

Jotapata,  defended  by  Jose- 
phus, 278. 

Judah,  leads  the  Israelites  into 
Canaan,  46  ;  becomes  Israel 
after  the  fall  of  Samaria, 
128 ;  finds  the  dependency 
on  Assyria  a  blessing,  129. 

Judaism,  outward,  imposed  on 
Greeks  by  Alexander  Jan- 
nseus,  219. 

Judas  Maccabaeus,  193-200; 
frees  Judea,  194;  defeats 
two  Syrian  armies,  restores 
the  temple  to  the  worship 
of  Jahweh,  195 ;  gathers  the 
Jews  into  Judea,  196 ;  de- 
feated by  Lysias,  197;  de- 
feats Nicanor,  198, 199 ;  seeks 
a  Roman  alliance,  199  ;  slain, 
200. 

Judas,  a  Pharisee,  with  Mat- 
thias, burned  alive  for  cut- 
ting down  the  Roman  eagle, 
238. 

Judas  the  Galilean,  opponent 
of  Roman  dominion,  248. 

Judea,  becomes  an  Egyptian 
province,  170  ;  made  an  im- 
mediate Roman  province, 
246 ;  sequestered  on  the 
death  of  Agrippa,  259;  fi- 
nally conquered,  297,  298  ; 
the  victory  of  the  van- 
quished, 300,  301. 

KADESH-BARNEA,  the  modern 
Ain  Kudes,  43 ;  temporary 
seat  of  the  Hebrews,  43,  44. 


INDEX. 


319 


Kar-Duniash,  empire  of,  24. 

Kassites,  see  Cossaeans,  24. 

Kemosgad,  King  of  Moab,  sub- 
jected by  Omri,  101. 

Kir-haresheth,  held  by  King 
Mesha  of  Moab,  107. 

Kudur-Mabuk,  King  of  the 
Elamites,  23. 

LAISH,  conquered  and  name 
changed  to  Dan,  49. 

Law,  the  priestly,  proclaimed 
by  Ezra,  164. 

Lebanon  and  Anti-Libanus,13. 

Legends,  Popular,  their  value 
as  historical  sources,  17. 

Levi,  punished  for  treachery 
in  taking  Shechem,  46. 

Libnah,  revolts  from  Judah, 
108. 

Lucilius  Bassus,  legate  in 
Syria,  completes  the  con- 
quest of  Judea,  295. 

Lysias,  regent  of  Syria,  194; 
defeated  by  Judas  Macca- 
bseus,  195;  defeats  Judas, 
196-197  ;  makes  peace  with 
the  Jews,  takes  Antioch,  197; 
executed,  198. 

MACCABEES,  see  Mattathias, 
Judas,  Jonathan,  John,  Si- 
mon, Hyrcanus,  Aristobu- 
lus,  Alexander  Jannaeus, 
Hyrcanus  II.,  Aristobulus 
II.,  Alexander  II.,  Antig- 
onus. 

Maccabees,  Books  of,  188. 

Maccabean  state,  its  inner  in- 
consistency, 206. 

Machaerus,  important  fortress 
in  last  stand  against  Rome, 
274 ;  taken  by  the  Romans, 
295. 

Malachi,  his  notes  of  condi- 
tions in  Judea,  154. 

Malichus,  poisons  Antipater, 
229. 


Manasseh,  persecutes  the  pro- 
phets, 136. 

Manasseh,  son-in-law  of  San- 
ballat,  expelled  from  Jeru- 
salem, founds  the  congrega- 
tion of  Samaria,  167. 

Mari,  king  of  Damascus,  sub- 
dued by  the  Assyrians,  122. 

Mariannne,  wife  of  Herod,  231. 

Massada,  important  stronghold 
in  the  last  contest  with 
Rome,  273 ;  its  siege  and 
notable  defence,  296-297. 

Marsus,  legate  in  Syria,  re- 
presses Agrippa,  258. 

Mattathias,  founder  of  the 
house  of  the  Maccabees,  re- 
volts against  Antiochus 
Epiphanes,  192-193. 

Medes,  threaten  Assyria  under 
Asurbanipal,  138. 

Media,  alliance  with  Baby- 
lonia, 148,  conquest  by 
Cyrus,  149. 

Menahem,  defeats  and  slays 
Shallum,  122;  bribes  the 
Assyrians,  123. 

Menahem,  grandson  of  Judas 
the  Galilean,  273 ;  engages 
in  civil  strife,  274. 

Menelaus,  high  priest,  murders 
Onias,  190  ;  executed  by  Lysi- 
as, 197. 

Merenptah,  the  Pharaoh  of  the 
Exodus,  41. 

Merodach-baladan,  visits  Hez- 
ekiah.  132  ;  assailed  by  Sen- 
nacherib, 132. 

Mesha,  King  of  Moab,  his  tri- 
umphal column,  7  ;  retakes 
territory  from  Israel,  resists 
invasion  by  Jehoram,  107. 

Messiahs,  suppressed  by  Felix, 
264. 

Metilius,  a  Roman  tribune,  274. 

Michal,  Saul's  daughter,  loves 
David,  66. 

Midianites,  incursion  of,  51. 


320 


INDEX. 


Migration  to  Egypt,  of  all  the 
Hebrew  tribes,  38. 

Mixed  marriages,  Ezra's  zeal 
against,  156-159;  Nehemiah's 
opposition  to,  160-165. 

Moab,  with  Ammon  and  Edom 
came  out  of  Mesopotamia 
with  Abraham,  32  ;  relation- 
ship to  Israel,  32;  rebels  from 
Solomon,  90. 

Moabite  language,  33. 

Moabites,  and  Ammonites, 
driven  out  of  their  homes 
by  Sihon,  king  of  the  Ca- 
naanites,  45 ;  assail  Israel, 
51 ;  attack  David  and  are 
defeated,  74. 

Modein,  scene  of  beginning  of 
Maccabean  rebellion,  192. 

Mohammedans,  their  debt  to 
Israel,  4. 

Moses,  his  name  Egyptian,  41 ; 
leads  the  Exodus,  42  ;  found- 
er of  Israelitish  nationali- 
ty, 48. 

Mount  Tabor,  taken  by  the 
Romans,  279. 

NABOPOLASSAR,  139. 

Naboth,  murder  of,  instigated 
by  Jezebel,  102. 

Nadab,  son  of  Jeroboam,  king 
of  Israel,  murdered  by 
Baasha,  98. 

Nahash,  king  of  the  Ammon- 
ites, besieges  Jabesh-gilead, 
55. 

Naphtali,  settled  in  the  north, 
49. 

Naram-Sin,  21. 

Neapolitanus,  Roman  tribune 
in  Jerusalem,  270. 

Nebuchadnezzar,  defeats  Ne- 
cho,  140;  takes  Jerusalem 
and  leads  Jehoiachin  and 
ten  thousand  Jews  into  cap- 
tivity, 141 ;  his  connection 
with  Media,  his  death,  148. 


Nebuzaradan,  Babylonian  cap- 
tain, destroys  Jerusalem,  144. 

Necho,  Pharaoh,  defeats  King 
Josiah,  defeated  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, 140. 

Nehemiah,  governor  of  Jeru- 
salem, his  character,  160  ;  his 
work  in  restoring  Jerusalem, 
161-164  ;  increased  zeal,  166- 
168. 

Nicanor,  Syrian  general,  de- 
feated by  Judas  Maccabseus, 
198-199. 

Nineveh,    destruction  of,  139. 

Nob,  priests  of,  slain  for  favor- 
ing David,  68. 

O  BED  AS,  an  Arab  sheik,  defeats 
Alexander  Jannaeus,  217. 

Ochus,  King,  destroys  Jericho, 
deports  Jews,  169. 

Old  Testament,  does  not  claim 
to  be  history,  4. 

Onias  III.,  high  priest,  183; 
hated  by  the  Hellenists,  187; 
imprisoned  in  Antioch,  189; 
murdered,  190. 

Onias,  a  conciliatory  philoso- 
pher, 222. 

Omri,  overthrows  Zimri,  99; 
overcomes  Tibni  and  made 
king  of  Israel,  founds  Sama- 
ria, 100 ;  invades  Moab,  ac- 
knowledges overlordship  of 
Damascus,  makes  alliance 
with  Tyre,  pays  tribute  to 
Assyria,  101;  peace  with 
Judah,  101. 

PADI,  of  Ekron,  remains  loyal 
to  Assyria,  and  is  imprisoned 
by  his  own  people,  132. 

Palestine,  origin  of  name,  9; 
physical  description  of,  10- 
12;  flora  of,  13;  isolation  of, 
14 ;  products  of,  fauna  of,  15; 
an  Egyptian  province  under 
Ahmes,  26;  defended  by  Ra- 


INDEX. 


321 


meses  III.,  against  invading 
races,  44;  naturally  belongs 
to  Syria,  172;  taken  by 
Syria,  173. 

Pallas,  favorite  of  Emperor 
Claudius,  263. 

Parthians,  invade  Syria,  aid 
Antigonus,  230. 

Pashebchanen  II.,  Solomon's 
father-in-law,  subdues 
Gezer,  and  gives  it  to  him, 
92. 

Patriarchs, stand  for  tribes,  30. 

Pekah,  slays  Pekahiah,  the 
last  king  of  Samaria  (North 
Israel),  123;  slain  by  Ho- 
shea,  124. 

Pekahiah,  son  of  Menahem, 
his  brief  reign,  123. 

Penuel,  chosen  by  Jeroboam 
as  capital,  97. 

Petronius,  legate  in  Syria, 
ordered  to  set  up  altar  to 
Caligula  in  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  253,  254. 

Phannias,  last  high  priest,  280. 

Pharisees,  origin  of,  183 ; 
character,  184;  origin  of 
name,  185;  oppose  John 
Hyrcanus,  211-213  ;  call  in 
Demetrius  III.,  217;  mas- 
sacred by  Alexander,  218 ; 
control  Alexandra-Salome, 
220. 

Phasael,  son  of  Antipater,  228; 
governor  in  Jerusalem,  229; 
confirmed  by  Antony,  takes 
his  own  life,  230. 

Philip,  regent  of  Syria,  over- 
thrown by  Lysias,  197. 

Philip,  son  of  Herod,  240;  best 
of  the  family,  243 ;  founds 
Caesarea  Philippi,  244. 

Philistines,  come  in  to  Pales- 
tine under  Rameses  III. ,  45  ; 
subdue  the  Israelites,  54; 
attempt  to  suppress  David, 
74. 

2T 


Philo  of  Alexandria,  255-256. 

Philology,  its  aid  in  historical 
study,  17, 18. 

Phoenicians,  their  contribu- 
tion to  civilization,  2  ;  make 
naval  expeditions  with  Sol- 
omon, 91. 

Phraortes,  139. 

Pithalaus,  heads  a  rebellion 
against  Rome,  is  executed, 
226. 

Pontius  Pilate,  Roman  pro- 
curator in  Palestine,  249 ; 
builds  aqueducts,  250  ;  mas- 
sacres the  Jews  and  the 
Samaritans,  251;  removed 
from  office,  252. 

Pompey,  conquering  Asia,  223; 
invades  Judea,  224 ;  restores 
Hyrcanus  II.,  225,  227. 

Popilius  Lsenas,  Roman  am- 
bassador, in  Egypt,  191. 

Priests,  their  lukewarmness 
towards  the  reforms  of 
Nehemiah,  165;  leave  Jeru- 
salem for  Samaria,  167. 

Primogeniture  in  Hebrew  law, 
88. 

Prophecy  originated  in  Israel, 
not  in  Judah,  128. 

Psammetichusl.,  frees  Egypt 
from  Assyria,  138. 

Ptolemy  V.  married  to  daugh- 
ter of  Antiochus  III.,  186; 
dies,  190. 

Ptolemy,  son-in-law  of  Simon, 
murders  him,  208. 

Ptolemy  Lathyros,  wastes 
Judea,  216. 

Ptolemies,  their  relation  to  the 
Jews,  170-174. 

Pul,  see  Tiglath-Pileser  II. 

Pursta,  Egyptian  form  of 
Philistines  in  inscriptions, 
45. 

RAMAH  OP  EPHRAIM,  home  of 
Samuel,  56. 


322 


INDEX. 


Ramah.   held  by  Baasha,  98; 

taken  by  Asa,  99. 
Rameses  II.,  his  war  with  the 

Cheta,    39;    impresses     the 

Israelites  for  state  labor,  40. 
Rameses  III. ,  maintains  Egyp- 
tian power  in  Palestine,  44. 
Ramman-Nirari,    of    Assyria, 

son  of  Semiramis,  119. 
Ramoth,  retaken  by  Jehoram, 

108. 
Raphia,  scene  of  the  defeat  of 

Shabaka,  130. 

Red  Sea,  the  passage  of,  42. 
Rehoboam,    difficulties    with 

Israel,   95;  flees    from  She- 

chem,   96;    loses  the  North 

Kingdom,  96,  97. 
Reuben,  claims  the  hegemony, 

38;  and  Gad,  remain  east  of 

the  Jordan,  47. 
Resin,   King    of    Syria,   loses 

land  and  life,  124. 
Rizpah,      Saul's      concubine, 

taken  by  Abner,  72. 
Romans,  their  contribution  to 

civilization,  3. 
Roman  government  of  Judea, 

246,  247. 

SABINUS,  Roman  official,  Her- 
od's executor,  besieged  in 
Jerusalem,  plunders  the 
temple,  242. 

Sadducees,  origin  of,  183;  de- 
scendants of  Zadok,  184;  al- 
lied with  John  Hyrcanus, 
212,  213;  seek  protection  of 
AristobulusIL,  220. 

Samaria,  established  as  capital 
of  Israel,  100  ;  taken  by  the 
Assyrians,  125 ;  colonized 
with  foreigners,  126;  de- 
stroyed by  Hyrcanus,  211. 

Samaritan,  religious  commu- 
nity, founded  by  Manasseh, 
167. 

Sammuramat,  see  Semiramis. 


Samuel,  feels  the  humiliation 
of  Israel, 56;  desires  union, 57. 

Sanballat,  opposes  the  restor- 
ation of  Jerusalem,  162. 

Sargon  of  Agade,  21. 

Sargon,  conquers  Samaria, 
129;  defeats  Shabaka,  130; 
suppresses  rebellion  in  Ash- 
dod,  131 ;  murdered,  131. 

Saul,  son  of  Kish,  57 ;  seeks 
Samuel,  anointed  by  him, 
58  ;  responds  to  the  call 
from  Jabesh-gilead,  59  ; 
crowned  king  in  Gilgal, 
keeps  a  body-guard,  calls  to 
arms  against  the  Philistines, 
60 ;  defeats  them,  organizes 
army,  61 ;  mental  weakness, 
not  equal  to  the  situation, 
62  ;  defects  of  his  character, 
63;  attacks  the  Gibeonites, 
64  ;  defeats  the  Arnalekites, 
but  is  too  lenient  toward 
them,  64;  compared  with 
Frederick  William  IV.  of 
Prussia,  65;  loves  David,  66  ; 
gives  him  his  daughter,  sus- 
picious of  David,  67;  assails 
him,  punishes  the  priests  of 
Nob,  68  ;  at  war  with  David, 
69;  defeated  by  the  Philis- 
tines at  Gilboa,  kills  himself , 
70 ;  summary,  70-71. 

Scaurus,  legate  of  Pompey, 
aids  Aristobulus,  223. 

Scopas,  Egyptian  general,  173. 

Seleucus  Nicator,  favors  Jews 
in  Syria,  171. 

Seleucus  IV.,  187. 

Seleucidae,  172 ;  downfall  of, 
187  ;  overthrown  by  a  usurp- 
er, 202  ;  207 ;  208 ;  211 ;  217; 
221. 

Semiramis,  invades  Coelesyria, 
119,  120. 

Semitic  conquest  of  Baby- 
lonia, 22. 

Sennacherib,  131 ;  general  re- 


INDEX. 


323 


volt  against  him,  132 ;  sup- 
press it,  133  ;  wastes  Pales- 
tine, 134 ;  fails  to  take  Jeru- 
salem, 136 ;  murdered,  137. 

Sepphoris,  taken  by  the  Ro- 
mans, 277. 

Septuagint,  beginning  of,  180. 

Set-necht,  grandson  of  Mer- 
enptah,  44. 

Sextus  Caesar,  legate  in  Syria, 
228. 

Shabaka,  of  Egypt,  incites  the 
Israelites  against  Assyria, 
125  ;  is  defeated  by  Sargon, 
130. 

Shadduck,  a  Pharisee,  oppo- 
nent of  Roman  dominion, 
248. 

Shallum,  murders  King  Zech- 
ariah,  and  is  murdered,  122. 

Shalmaneser  II.,  of  Assyria, 
invades  Coelesyria,  105  ;  and 
again,  108  ;  again,  117 ;  re- 
ceives tribute  from  Jehu, 
last  incursion,  118. 

Shalmaneser  IV.,  destroys  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  125. 

Shammai,  a  leader  of  the  San- 
hedrin,  denounces  Herod, 
228.^ 

Shamir,  occupied  by  the  fam- 
ily of  Tolah,  tribe  of  Issa- 
char,  49. 

Sheba,  a  Benjaminite,  heads  a 
revolt  against  David,  is  be- 
trayed and  slain  by  his  own 
people,  81. 

Shechem,  taken  by  Simeon 
and  Levi,  46 ;  key  to  the 
mountain  region  of  Eph- 
raim. 

Sheshbazzar,  governor-gener- 
al of  Judea,  151. 

Sheshenk,  Pharaoh,  harbors 
Jeroboam,  94  ;  plunders  Je- 
rusalem, 97. 

Shiloh,  captured  by  the  Phil- 
istines, 54. 


Shishak,  see  Sheshenk. 

Sicarii,    organized 
hostile  to  Rome,   263,  273 ; 
pillage  Southern  Judea,  282. 

Siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus, 
286-293. 

Sihon,  of  Canaan,  founds 
Heshbon,  45;  defeated  at 
Jahaz,  46. 

Simeon,  absorbed  by  Judah, 
47. 

Simon  II.,  high  priest,  183. 

Simon,  a  leader  of  the  Hellen- 
istic party,  187;  causes  riot, 
188. 

Simon,  brother  of  Judas  Mac- 
cabaeus,  aids  Jonathan,  203 ; 
succeeds  him,  allies  himself 
with  Demetrius,  takes  the 
citadel  of  Jerusalem,  hered- 
itary prince  and  high  priest, 
205  ;  his  character,  207;  mur- 
dered, 208. 

Simon  bar  Giora,  a  leader  of 
the  Sicarii,  282;  gathers  an 
army,  is  admitted  to  Jerusa- 
lem, 283  ;  holds  the  Upper 
City,  292;  captured,  294; 
executed,  295. 

Simon  ben  Shetach,  head  of 
the  Pharisees,  220. 

Sinai,  a  refuge  for  the  fleeing 
Hebrews,  43. 

Sisera,  attempts  to  recover 
Canaan,  50. 

Solomon,  supplants  Adonijah 
through  the  devices  of  Bath- 
sheba,  82  ;  varying  views  of 
his  character,  86 ;  endow- 
ment from  his  mother,  87  ; 
his  task,  88-89  ;  his  defects, 
90 ;  loses  Edom,  re-subdues 
Moab,  90;  financial  meas- 
ures, cedes  territory  to 
Tyre,  impresses  Canaanites, 
91 ;  impresses  Israelites, 
builds  temple,  his  Egyptian 
wife,  92  ;  builds  fortresses, 


324 


INDEX. 


expels  the  rebel  Jeroboam, 
93 ;  cultivates  art  and  liter- 
ature, 84;  a  theme  for  po- 
etic legends,  death,  95. 

Sosius,  Antony's  legate,  231, 
232. 

Stephanus,  a  Roman  official, 
assaulted  and  robbed,  261. 

Succoth  and  Penuel,  chastised 
by  Gideon,  52. 

Sulla  the  younger,  leads  in  the 
taking  of  Jerusalem,  224. 

Sumerians,  primitive  inhabit- 
ants of  Babylonia,  22. 

Syria,  contends  with  Egypt  for 
Palestine,  172. 

TACITUS,  his  description  of  the 
Jewish  people,  16. 

Tattenai,  Persian  satrap,  154. 

Tell-el-Amarna,  26  ;  great  dis- 
covery of  ancient  Egyptian 
diplomatic  correspondence 
there,  27. 

Temple,  originally  a  part  of 
Solomon's  palace,  92  ;  recon- 
struction of,  153. 

Ten  Tribes,  misrepresented  by 
Judean  historians,  126 ;  the 
material  and  intellectual 
center  of  the  race,  127. 

Thamar,  daughter  of  David, 
forced  by  her  brother  Am- 
non,  75. 

Theudas,  a  prophet,  slain  by 
Fadus,  260. 

Thotmes  III.,  25. 

Tiberias,  founded  by  Herod 
Antipas,  244. 

Tiberius,  250,  252. 

Tiberius  Alexander,  Roman 
procurator  in  Judea,  260. 

Tibni,  opposes  Omri,  and  is 
defeated,  100. 

Tiglath-Pileser,  receives  sub- 
mission of  Egypt,  45. 

Tiglath-Pileser  II.  invades 
Ccelesyria,  123;  called  in 


by  Ahaz,  takes  Damascus, 
subdues  Israel,  124. 

Tigranes.  King  of  the  Arme- 
nians, 221,  223. 

Tirhakah,  King  of  Egypt,  con- 
quered by  Esarhaddon,  137. 

Titus,  takes  Tarichaea,  278, 282 ; 
given  command,  284  ;  besets 
Jerusalem,  285 ;  begins 
siege,  286  ;  progress,  287-288 ; 
takes  the  Lower  City,  290; 
takes  the  temple,  291-292; 
completes  the  capture,  293  ; 
celebrates  his  triumph,  294 
295. 

Tobiah,  the  Ammonite,  op- 
ponent of  Nehemiah,  162 ; 
cast  out  of  the  temple,  167. 

Tribal  kingdom,  insufficiency 
of,  53. 

Tribes,  the  Twelve,  their  re- 
lations, 35-36. 

Tribe,  average  size  of,  36. 

Trypho,  a  general  of  Alexander 
Balas,  rebels  against  Deme- 
trius, II.  203 ;  his  treachery 
toward  Jonathan,  294. 

UAHABRA,  Pharaoh,  stirs  Zede- 
kiah  to  rebellion,  142. 

Ummidius  Quadratus,  legate 
in  Syria,  262. 

Ur,  the  modern  Mughier,  20. 

Uzziah  (Azariah),  his  pros- 
perous reign,  121. 

VALERIUS  Gratus,  Roman  pro- 
curator in  Palestine,  249. 

Varus  (Quintilius) ,  legate  in 
Syria,  plunders  Judea,  243. 

Ventidius  Cumanus,  Roman 
procurator  in  Judea,  260; 
causes  massacre  in  Jerusa- 
lem, persecutes  the  Jews, 
261-262 ;  removed,  262 

Vespasian,  directs  the  cam- 
paign against  the  Jews,  277  ; 
his  policy,  282;  made  em- 


INDEX. 


325 


peror,  turns  the  command 
over  to  Titus.  284. 
Vitellius,  legate  in  Syria,  252. 

YAMAN,  in  Ashdod,  rebels 
against  Sargon,  defeated, 
flees  to  Egypt,  and  is  deliv- 
ered to  Sargon,  131. 

ZADOKID^E,  153. 

Zealots,  263,  try  to  rule  Jeru- 
salem, 280-282 ;  divided  into 
parties,  284. 

Zebulon,  settled  in  the  north, 
49. 


Zechariah,  son  of  Jeroboam  II. 
murdered,  122. 

Zedekiah,  made  king  of  Judah 
by  Nebuchadnezzar,  141  ; 
rebels,  142  ;  captured,  blind- 
ed and  taken  to  Babylon, 
143. 

Zerubbabel,  leader  of  the  El- 
ders, 151  ;  governor  of  Judea, 
154. 

Ziklag,  David's  residence  while 
in  exile,  69. 

Zimri,  murders  Elah,  over- 
thrown by  Omri,  99. 

Zoilus,  prince  of  Ptolemais, 
215. 


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